


Duelist's Point

by amphitrite



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Magical Artifacts, Resurrection, Sennen Items | Millennium Items
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2009-05-22
Updated: 2009-05-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:20:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 45,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22276996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amphitrite/pseuds/amphitrite
Summary: Pegasus invites our favorite duelists to his new island to celebrate the eighth anniversary of Duel Monsters, but his motives are less than pure. Strange magical items, parallel dimensions, and mysterious winged henchmen—can Yuugi and his friends save the world one more time?
Relationships: Bakura Ryou/Mutou Yuugi, Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto, Kaiba Mokuba & Kawai Shizuka | Serenity Wheeler, Marik Ishtar/Yami Marik, Yami Bakura/Yami Yuugi
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this for a NaNoWriMo many years ago, but this project had actually been in the works both on paper and running loose in my head since I was a kid. The story is complete, and I'm slowly porting it to AO3.
> 
> This story should read like a season in and of itself, set after the Doma and Kaiba Grand Prix arcs and before the Ancient Egypt arc. Enjoy!

#### 1: Pegasus’s Dreams

Pegasus awakened in the early morning, the sky tinted an eerie twilight purple. His hair was matted to his sweaty skin and his hands clung desperately onto his silk sheets. Trembling, he tried to slow his breathing as he buried his heated face in his hands.

“Cyndia…” he murmured.

The dream began flashing back at him—Cyndia’s cries for help, the disembodied voice threatening him, threatening Cyndia… The pain that had swallowed him whole when he’d refused to engage in any more magic, the hot needles prickling his body all over, stinging his flesh and threatening to tear him apart… The images of what the Voice wanted to come to pass—and the images of what It would do if Its wishes weren’t realized…

Feeling bile rise in his throat, Pegasus shuddered and dashed to the adjoining bathroom. He vomited into the toilet, silver hair falling all around his face. When he finished, he rinsed his mouth at the sink and stared at his haggard face in the mirror.

“I have to save her…” he whispered, eyes falling shut and hands gripping the countertop tightly. “But Yuugi…”

*

_“Now!” Mikaa screamed, and the battlefield exploded into chaos. Charging forth on a black horse, she wielded her polearm deftly, knocking people down left and right. Around her, her soldiers struck the barbarian invaders down, swords glistening in the sun. Her horse barreled down some foot soldiers as she glanced backward for a second, checking on her troops—before turning around and stabbing a soldier who had been trying to jump on her horse._

_“Get up!” she screamed at her soldiers. “Fight! For Cade! For King Zaladin!” Hearing an echo of the battle cry, she smiled to herself and continued cutting down the enemy’s soldiers._

_At last, she heard the opposing commander shout, “Retreat, retreat!” The remaining invaders regrouped and marched back to their line. “You haven’t seen the last of us, Commander!” the opposing leader yelled. “Expect us again soon!”_

_“My pleasure!” Mikaa shouted back, smirking as the enemy troops abandoned the border. She led her own army back to the palace, gold eyes sparkling with triumph._

_“You fought well, soldiers, she announced as they gathered in front of the barracks. “But this was an easy battle. I saw only a few of their best warriors out there. They must be planning something bigger.” She swept a sweaty strand of hair out of her eye. “Be prepared, soldiers, for a real battle soon.”_

_“For Cade!” someone shouted._

_Mikaa chuckled. “For Cade,” she repeated. “Take the day off, soldiers. You are dismissed. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”_

_“Yes, sir!” the soldiers shouted and erupted into cheers. Stretching her wings, Mikaa flew off to the palace entrance, where she landed and found her way to the king’s throne room._

_The guards bowed as she approached them. They opened the heavy doors and the one on her right barked, “Commander Mikaa, my lord,” and shut the doors behind her. She dropped the ground, bowing her head._

_“Commander Mikaa,” King Zaladin purred. “How did the battle go?”_

_“We won, my lord. The invaders retreated. I noticed, though, that they didn’t bring their best. I fear they may be planning an attack of a much larger scale.”_

_“Ah yes, we have been hearing from our sources about it. For security, please increase our air patrol and ensure that our weapons are fully functional. And continue studying their land troops, Commander.”_

_Mikaa nodded. “Yes, my lord.”_

_“Warn the palace guards,” a new voice chimed in. “They will try to invade the palace.” There was a slight pause, before the voice drawled, “Really, Mikaa, could you come into the throne room any filthier? You are so disrespectful.”_

_Mikaa snarled. “I wanted to deliver the news to my lord immediately, Onii-san.”_

_Pann wrinkled his nose. Mikaa could tell a retort was on the tip of his tongue, but the king interrupted him._

_“Silence, you two.”_

_“Yes, my lord,” they replied in unison._

_“You are dismissed, Commander.”_

_Mikaa bowed and left the room, still scowling at her brother’s rudeness._

_Several floors below, in the basement of the royal palace, a blonde doll cackled madly as a prisoner was whipped for murdering his sister._

_“Scream, killer,” she shrieked. “Scream and see if the gods hear your call!”_

_The man screamed and screamed, and insane, childlike giggling filled the room._

*

The dreams didn’t stop. For the next week, they populated Pegasus’s sleep: Cyndia’s screams and the Voice’s commands terrified him to the core of his soul. Each night, he was given an instruction—and with Cyndia’s wellbeing on the line, he had no choice but to follow all of them.

The first day, he hacked into a Peruvian museum, disabled the heavy security, and stole an enormous tome from its exhibit. The second day, he examined the book and found that he could read the strange characters it was written in. He didn’t ask how, attributing his new ability to the Voice and its doings. He spent his spare time in the next couple of days perusing the Necromancy section as instructed, fascinated as well as excited. His hope of seeing Cyndia again — which had disappeared after Duelist’s Kingdom — was revived, and he found himself aching to feel her golden hair and kiss her soft lips again.

On the fifth day, he traveled to the Painted Desert in Arizona at midnight and waited on a dune. For half an hour, he stared at the small rip in space, shimmering in the moonlight. Then, without warning, a blinding light issued from the hole and five people flew out of what appeared to be absolutely nowhere.

A dark-haired woman was the first to rise, stretching the black wings that seemed to jut unnaturally out of her back.

“Do you know of the Regalia?”

For a moment, he wondered what she was referring to, but then he remembered the instructions of his dream. “Yes. I can attain them. In exchange for your service,” he said evenly.

“Explain service,” drawled the aqua-haired man, standing up next to the woman. The other figures stood as well. With a start, Pegasus realized that one of them was transparent.

Signaling to the helicopter, he proposed, “Let’s return to my castle.”

As he led the way back to the chopper, he heard one of them murmur, “Castle? Is he a king?”

*

_Melting into the stone wall, Shadowcat crept around the corner and came across a Panton general and what appeared to be a scientist_

_“…ready, sir, and in perfect shape to be launched against Cade. It will take the entire royal city out. The country will be defenseless._

_“Good. Don’t tell me any more. The walls have ears.” The officer turned the corner and began walking in the opposite direction as the other man._

_Shadowcat smiled and followed the officer. Walls indeed._

_Several doors down, Akai sat with the Panton Queen, buttering her up for their discussion about formulating a treaty between the two countries – one that would give Cade a quarter of Panto’s land, of course._

_“Oh, Ambassador, you flatter me!” she laughed._

_“Not at all, my lady. It’s a rule to compliment intelligent woman.”_

_She sighed, “If only half of the men in my court were as generous as you, sir, then I would be content.”_

_Akai laughed lightly, smiling. “Now now, let’s not get carried away. Don’t want it going to my head, after all.”_

_“Of course,” she laughed._

_“Let’s get down to business,” he proposed. “Now about that treaty…”_

*

Pegasus smiled at how silly the creatures looked, standing around in his office with their wings folded back and arms crossed. The youngest-looking man was gazing at the moon through the enormous window behind the desk, his fingers gingerly touching the glass.

“My wife is in trouble. I want to save her by reviving her from the dead,” he said, leaning back in his chair comfortably.

Silence.

“That’s dangerous magic,” the transparent figure stated.

Pegasus smirked. “I’m a dangerous man.”

“You promised us the Regalia,” the aqua-haired said.

“That’s right. You’ll help me gather the ingredients I need and assist me in whatever other way is necessary. In return, you will receive the Regalia.”

“They are in your possession?” the one at the window asked.

“No,” Pegasus smiled, “not yet. But the people who do own them are the same people who I need for my project.”

Smiling and bowing, the dark-haired one stepped forward. “I’m Mikaa,” she said, teeth glinting in the fluorescent lighting of the office, “at your service.”

“Pann,” the aqua-haired creature said.

“Akai,” said the one at the window.

“Shadowcat,” murmured the transparent figure.

“I’m Celestine!” a new voice chirped. Startled, Pegasus looked at the last creature, the previously silent woman holding a doll — which had spoken. 

“Excellent. I’m Pegasus,” he said, eyes glinting. “Let’s get to work.”

*

****

#### 2: Renn’s Arrival

A cold, windy day in March, Bakura Ryou opened the door to his apartment, expecting the pizza boy and instead coming face-to-face with his father. As it was the first Ryou had seen of him in months, he stared at him in surprise for a moment before his brain registered that the slender man was not alone.

At his father’s side stood a small girl, wrapped in an enormous black coat.

“Hello, Ryou,” Mr. Bakura said.

“Hi, _Otou-san_ ,” he replied demurely, stepping out of the doorway to let them in.

“Let me introduce you to Lee Renn. Renn, this is your second cousin, Ryou. Ryou, Renn is the daughter of my cousin Tomo. I don’t know if you two remember, but you were friends when you were younger.” Shrugging off his coat, he added, “Renn will be staying with us for a little while.”

Ryou blinked. “Staying?”

Mr. Bakura frowned. “She has no other family but us anymore, Ryou. She’ll stay in your room for now. You can have my bed.”

“Oh no, _Otou-san_ , I can take the couch. I sleep on a bed all the time anyway, unlike you.”

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t mind the couch. It would actually be an improvement from those sleeping bags that I seem to spend all my time in.”

Shaking his head, Ryou said, “I’ll be fine.”

Mr. Bakura smiled. “That’s my boy. Will you show Renn to your room?”

Blushing at the small bit of affection he’d received, Ryou nodded and beckoned the girl to his bedroom, his socked feet padding softly on the wooden floors. She followed silently, eyes on the ground. After he showed her where to put her bags, he began straightening out his desk.

Hoping to clear the awkward silence between them, Ryou prompted, “So we were friends? When?” He chuckled a little, realizing how rude he sounded. “Sorry, I’ve transferred schools so many times that I don’t remember.”

“It was in Kyoto,” she replied, sitting tentatively on the bed. Ryou looked at her, head tilted. Playing with the buttons of her coat, she looked uncomfortable about the subject. “I don’t really remember it, either. It was around when I was sent to the hospital in a coma.”

“Oh,” Ryou said quietly as the truth sank in. As soon as he had begun to talk to Bakura and the two had reached a tentative—if not understanding—truce, he had asked him for an explanation for all of the comatose students he’d had to run away from in the past years. The reality of the situation had shocked him, but Bakura had just been amused. But if Renn was here—and her soul seemed to be intact—then maybe the damage hadn’t been too monumental. Relief flooded him at this thought. “I’m sorry,” he blurted out.

Renn shrugged and watched as Ryou continued to clean his desk.

“What’s that?” she asked, alarmed, when he tried to quickly hide the dagger he’d found lying under a pile of schoolbooks.

“Oh, this old thing? It’s just a collector’s item, don’t worry,” he lied nervously, cursing Bakura for leaving his toys around in such conspicuous places. Renn looked slightly worried but let it slide. Several minutes of awkward silence passed by.

“I can take the couch, if you want,” Renn said suddenly.

“Oh no, that’s fine. I don’t mind the couch, and besides, you’re a guest.”

“Okay,” Renn conceded, examining her finger nails. Ryou sighed. It looked like he was going to do all the talking here.

“So, if you don’t mind me asking, why are you here?”

Renn shrugged again. “Like your father said, you’re my only remaining relatives.”

“What happened to your family?”

Ryou swore that she was about to be absorbed into the bed, judging by how low she’d slumped in her seat. “My father just passed away, and my mother left us when I was young,” she said quietly

“I’m sorry,” he said again, but she just frowned and lay down in bed, facing the wall. 

“Lee-san? I didn’t mean to offend you or anything…”

But the girl refused to speak anymore.

*

/Why am I on the couch?/ Bakura asked as soon as he’d taken over Ryou’s body. 

//Renn-san is sleeping in my bed, so I have to sleep on the couch.//

/A girlfriend, host?/

Ryou laughed from his soul room. //No, spirit, just a guest.//

/Hmm./

//Good night, spirit. Please don’t get me into too much trouble. And don’t stay out too long, in case Father decides to check on me.//

His only reply a grunt, Bakura crept out the door and leaped off the balcony.

*

After an awkward bus ride, Ryou showed Renn to the principal’s office and left her there with a promise to meet her at the bus stop after school so they could ride home together.

He found himself worrying about her throughout the first three periods. At lunch, he sat alone as usual and found himself wondering where she was. Lost in his thoughts, he almost didn’t notice Yuugi joining him at his table.

“Hi, Bakura-kun!” Yuugi chirped.

“Oh! Hello, Yuugi-kun. What are you doing here?”

“You looked lonely, so I thought I’d keep you company.”

“How nice, “Ryou smiled, “but you don’t need to feel obligated; I’m fine.”

Yuugi smiled back. “We’re friends, silly. Anyway, we’re going to the arcade today after school, and I was wondering if you wanted to join us?”

“Sure,” Ryou replied happily, excited to be a part of the close-knit group. He felt like he hadn’t talked to them in forever, although it had probably only been a few weeks. “That sounds like fun.”

Nodding, Yuugi said, “It is!” He looked like he wanted to say more, but the lunch bell rang and students began scuttling out of the cafeteria to return to their classes. “I’ll see you after school, then, Bakura-kun?”

“Yes, don’t leave without me!” Yuugi laughed and followed his friends back to their classroom, Ryou trailing slowly behind him.

*

After school, Ryou sprinted to the bus stop, where Renn was already waiting.

“I won’t be riding with you after all, Renn-san,” Ryou announced, panting. “I’m going with a couple of friends over to the arcade. Will you be okay riding the bus by yourself?”

“I am perfectly capable of riding a bus,” Renn assured him. “Thank you anyway.”

“I’ll see you at home then?” Ryou smiled kindly at her. Renn’s face didn’t twitch; she nodded and went back to staring at the graffiti on the bus stop. Ryou sighed in discouragement, but he waved and sprinted back to the front of the school to meet Yuugi and his friends.

*

As Jounouchi and Honda gleefully shot zombies and Anzu played DDR with a bunch of kids, Yuugi pulled Ryou aside.

“Ne, Yuugi-kun?”

“Has the spirit been bothering you?”

Ryou blinked, startled. “No… Actually, we talked. He’s…all right. We made an agreement about sharing my body. I’m tired a lot now, but at least I’m not missing school or waking up in alleys anymore.”

“Well, that’s good!” Yuugi smiled. “You should talk to him about being tired, though. You look exhausted.”

Shrugging, Ryou said, “I don’t want to make him mad. I’m just glad that he agreed to letting me have my body in the day.” They walked up to a combat game and inserted their coins into the machine.

“No, Other Me, I want to play,” Yuugi muttered to himself. Ryou laughed, but a vague sense of envy shot through him. He wished that he and Bakura could be partners like Yuugi and his spirit.

“How is he?”

“Oh, the other me? He’s…restless. He thinks that it’s too quiet. After the past year, going to school with me is hardly entertaining for him.”

Ryou smiled grimly. “I much prefer the quiet.” He groaned when Yuugi’s character pummeled his and a red “K.O.!” flashed on the screen. Yuugi nodded in agreement.

“Me, too.” They started another match. “So what have you been up to lately?”

Surprised, Ryou looked at Yuugi strangely.

“Did I say something wrong?” Yuugi’s character was somehow still winning even though he wasn’t looking at the screen but instead at Ryou’s puzzled face.

“No, no, I’m just…not accustomed to…small talk. I don’t have any…” He trailed off sadly, thinking about all the people he’d accidentally sent to the hospital. Renn was only one in many. “Friends” was the unspoken word he was too ashamed to say. He glanced at Yuugi, who bore an expression not of pity but of empathy.

“It’s okay. You have me, Bakura-kun.”

“No, you don’t understand, Yuugi-kun,” Ryou said sadly.

“I understand better than you think I do. I didn’t used to have any friends except for Anzu until recently. You know, when I completed the Millennium Puzzle, I wished for a friend. And now I have so many. It’s really great!” As the screen flashed “ _PLAYER 1 WINS_ ”, Yuugi laid a small hand on Ryou’s shoulder. “You have us, too, Bakura-kun. Especially me. If you need someone to talk to or spend time with, I’ll be here.”

Ryou’s heart briefly filled with warmth before the sensation disappeared. “Thank you, Yuugi-kun, but… All my friends always end up hurt because the spirit doesn’t like them. I don’t want that to happen to you and your friends. I can’t accept your offer.”

“Oh, Bakura-kun… You don’t have to worry. If anything happens, the other me will protect us.”

Ryou jolted as Bakura laughed in his mind. /Arrogant midget,/ he chuckled, /I’ll come right back, no matter what the Pharaoh does./

“What if he can’t?” he said quietly, although he knew that Bakura could hear his every word.

“He will,” Yuugi promised, and Ryou wasn’t so sure, but Yuugi’s large eyes were so full of hope and determination that he couldn’t let him down.

“Okay,” he said softly, and desperately hoped that he wouldn’t regret his words. Yuugi’s brilliant grin was too kind to lose. 

*

Ryou came home to the sweet aroma of teriyaki and rice and suddenly realized how hungry he was. Upon entering the kitchen, he was surprised to find Renn in an apron at the stove, stirring soup.

“Hi, Renn-san,” he greeted. She turned around and nodded at him before going back to stirring the soup. “It smells delicious.”

“Thank you. Your father called to tell you that he will be soon.”

Ryou nodded.

It was strange not coming home to an empty apartment. Strange — but nice.

With this thought in mind, he began to unpack his books.

*

Two weeks later, and Ryou’s body ached badly from what sleep he did get in-between school, homework, and Bakura’s mysterious nocturnal adventures. He was too tall to fit comfortably on the couch, but he didn’t say anything because his father would be leaving again soon. Indeed, Mr. Bakura departed for Africa within a week, leaving Ryou and Renn to themselves.

One day, Ryou returned from hanging out at Yuugi’s house to find Renn crying and violently tearing apart a piece of tissue in the living room. Wide-eyed, he asked if she was okay, but she ignored him and continued bawling. Uncertain about what to do, he settled down next to her on the floor and patted her back periodically, eyes filled with concern. At first, she flinched upon contact but then seemed to relax.

Half an hour later, she stopped and had resigned herself to quiet sniffling.

“My father died of leukemia a month ago,” she said, out of the blue. “He was a good man. He worked himself too hard sometimes, but he always tried to take good care of me. After Mother left, we went through a really difficult period of time, but he got us through it. He didn’t deserve to die. He was a good man.”

Not knowing what to say, Ryou just nodded.

“I miss him. I wonder where he is now.”

“Wherever he is, he’ll always remain in your heart,” Ryou said softly, thinking of his mother and Amane. “My…mother and my sister both passed away when I was young, but I still think about them all the time.”

Renn looked surprised. “I’m sorry,” she said, “Here I am, whining about my tragedies when you’ve had to live with it for so long.”

Ryou shrugged. “Things happen,” he said quietly, thinking not only about his family but also about Bakura, and Yuugi, and his friends. “I’m used to it by now.”

They sat in a companiable silence.

“You’re nice, Bakura-san.”

“I try,” Ryou smiled. And for the first time, he thought he saw a small answering smile on Renn’s face.

*

“Bakura-kun, why do you wear that weird thing around your neck?”

Ryou blinked, chewing and swallowing his rice before answering. He often forgot about the Millennium Item around his neck; it felt so at home against his chest. For a long period of time, he’d been too scared to wear it, instead just keeping it in his pocket. But after he and Bakura had talked, he’d begun wearing it around his neck again, this time not bothering to hide it under his shirt. He figured that if he got in any danger because of it, Bakura would protect their body.

“It was a gift from my father. He got it in Egypt.”

She nodded. “It’s really cool. Can I see it later?”

He shook his head. “I would, but it might make Bakura angry, and he might hurt you.”

She stared at him, expression reading “ _What the hell kind of drugs are you on?_ ”

“What?”

Ryou groaned, realizing his careless mistake. “Please forget I said anything. I don’t know how that slipped out.”

Renn narrowed her eyes. “No, now I’m curious. Why did you just talk about yourself in third person? And why would you hurt me?”

“It’s…complicated.”

“Well, explain,” she demanded, suddenly more alive than Ryou could remember seeing her.

“Really complicated.”

“I’m listening.”

“I’m…inhabited by an evil Egyptian spirit who was trapped in this thing 3,000 years ago.”

Renn choked on her tea and thumped her chest a few times before bursting out into laughter. “Bakura-kun, I didn’t know you were so funny.”

“I’m not joking,” Ryou said seriously. She stared at him, the laughter coming to a stop. “I told you it was complicated.”

“It’s…evil?”

Ryou shrugged. “He’s angry and scary and kind of bloodthirsty. But he’s not irrational, just…harsh.”

Bakura snorted in his mind. /My, host, glad you think so highly of me. But I do like the “evil spirit” title./

Ryou laughed. He liked it when Bakura was funny. Renn stared at him again. Realizing his mistake, Ryou winced. “He’s in my head. We can converse telepathically.”

Renn looked skeptical. “Bakura-kun, are you sure that you’re not…”

“Suffering from some mental disorder? I thought it was that for the longest time, but… Now I’m sure I’m not, because my friend has a spirit in his Millennium Item, too, and my spirit knows him.”

“Are you certain you’re not both just…”

Ryou nodded. “I’m sure. I just…know.”

Renn nodded in response, but continued to look skeptical and concerned.

“Why was he trapped?” she asked.

“He won’t tell me. He wants to kill my friend’s spirit and do something with the Millennium Items, but I don’t know what or why. I only know what my friend has told me. I…don’t ever remember anything that happens when he takes over.”

“Isn’t it kind of dangerous, having a bloodthirsty evil spirit running around in your body — especially without your knowledge?”

Ryou shrugged. “It scares me, too, but nothing can be done about it, so I just have to live with it.”

“Couldn’t you get him exorcised or something?”

“No!” Ryou’s hand gripped the Ring protectively. “No, I couldn’t do that. He’s…” He fumbled for words, “he’s not pleasant, but he’s a part of me.”

/I’m touched, host./

//I mean it.//

He felt a sense of satisfaction emanating from the spirit that made Renn’s skeptical “If you say so” significantly less frustrating to deal with.

Bakura really wasn’t so bad sometimes.

*

#### 3: Malik’s Anxieties

Malik was lonely. He pretended otherwise, but Isis knew. He muttered to himself, he burned gas riding his motorcycle with no destinations, he clung onto her and Rishid when they came home—Isis saw these things as clear signs of a teenage boy desperate for companions. Back in the Forbidden City, he’d always had the other members of their clan and their children to bother, but here in Japan, he had no one.

This had been one of Isis’s main concerns when they’d discussed moving here. After they’d returned to Egypt, the entire Tombkeepers tribe had been shocked to learn that their task was essentially complete. At a loss regarding what to do with their lives now that they were no longer tied to the Pharaoh, the Tombkeepers had flocked to the nearest villages and towns, desperate for jobs. Amidst all the panic, Malik, Rishid, and Isis had debated moving to Japan, where Isis was on good terms with the museum manager. He just happened to be looking for a manager for the Ancient Egypt exhibit. With Japan’s exploding industry, Rishid and Malik were likely to find jobs as well. Malik could even attend school for the first time. But most importantly, they would be nearby if the Pharaoh called on them to complete their last duty for him.

While Malik had been hesitant to return to a country where the only people he knew would probably remember him as a crazed maniac bent on destruction, Isis had insisted optimistically that Yuugi and his friends had said goodbye to him on good terms and would probably want to befriend him. In the end, Malik had caved in, knowing Isis was eager to return to her job and that the education and job opportunities were better in Japan than in Egypt.

He didn’t really want to stay in his home country anyway, where memories of death and claustrophobia suffocated him, and his father’s ghost haunted him.

Isis also often worried about how Malik was traumatized by the events of Battle City, especially the appearance of his dark, terrifying alter-ego. Sometimes, he would stop in the middle of a sentence and stare off into space, or he would just sit on the living room couch, glazed eyes burning a hole through the television.

In the beginning, Isis had expressed her concern for him and suggested getting some help, but Malik had shaken his head frantically and denied any strange behavior. She no longer brought it up, knowing that it would only upset him more.

Malik didn’t seem to have made any friends, much to Isis’s dismay. But he still refused to seek out Yuugi, despite his lack of friends at school. Isis hoped things would get better for him, because she loved her job at the museum, and Rishid seemed content with his job as a guard at the museum.

“I’m home!” she called as she slipped her shoes off at the entrance of the small apartment. 

“Hi, _Neesan_!” Malik called from the couch, where he was reading a motorcycle magazine. “How was work? Where’s Rishid? What’s for dinner? Do you want to watch a movie tonight?”

Isis laughed, discarding her shawl on the armchair. “One question at a time, Malik. Work was fine; Rishid has a late shift tonight; I thought we could have chicken and rice; and a movie sounds wonderful.”

Beaming, Malik sat up and asked, “Do you need any help? I can make vegetables.”

Isis smiled. “Thank you; that would be wonderful. We can save some for Rishid, too, so that he will have something to eat when he comes home.”

Malik’s grin disappeared. “You call this home now?” he said quietly.

Frowning at her brother’s sudden change in demeanor, Isis ventured, “My home is where you and Rishid are, Malik. But as I am paying to live here and am happy to do so, yes, I call this home. Do you mean to say that you still think of Egypt as home?”

“No, that wouldn’t make any sense either, I guess. I don’t really even know Egypt. All I know are tunnels in the middle of the Sahara Desert,” he said bitterly. “And those stopped being my home after… After…” He swallowed hard.

Isis sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. “You can make a new home here, dear brother. We are starting new lives in a new city with new people. Give Japan a chance.”

“Yeah.” They sat in silence. “ _Neesan_ , are you ever afraid of me?”

Isis hesitated before replying. “Sometimes,” she admitted. “But then I remember that there is nothing to be afraid of, because you and the Pharaoh got rid of the darkness, and you’re back to the Malik that you should be.”

“What if he didn’t?” Malik murmured. “What if it didn’t work?”

Isis sat up sharply. “What?”

Malik remained silent.

“Malik, what are you not telling me?” Isis demanded, beginning to panic. If the dark personality had returned…

“I just have really bad dreams sometimes, _Neesan_. I’m so afraid of him…”

“He’s gone now, Malik. We saw him banished. Your mind is just playing games with you.”

“I know, but…”

“At least the Pharaoh has the Rod now, so even if the dark personality takes over, he will be significantly less powerful.”

Malik nodded but still looked unconvinced. Sighing, Isis squeezed his shoulders. “In the event that something does happen, Rishid and I will be here for you, Malik. And we will do everything we can to protect you from him.”

“You couldn’t protect me last time,“ Malik muttered bitterly, but Isis heard the remark and tensed.

“We did everything in our power,” she defended. “We did our best to help.”

“Yeah, just like you did during the ceremony and when Father was punishing Rishid,” Malik snapped, “or when Father was being…”

Isis paled at the memories of being paralyzed by fear, wanting to do something but not being able to move. Of trying to convince Malik that he’d misinterpreted Shaadi’s words. Of trying to comfort the constantly crying Malik during the weeks before his tenth birthday.

“What is wrong with you?” Isis scolded. “You know the only reason the dark personality was able to remain dormant for so long was thanks to Rishid. And you know I tried everything to make you see sense — and that I was the reason Seto Kaiba held Battle City in the first place! So how dare you accuse us of doing nothing to help you!”

Malik rolled his eyes and snorted.

Isis stared at him, aghast, and then raised her hand and slapped him.

The resounding sound seemed to echo in the silence. Malik’s eyes seemed to clear, and then —

“ _Neesan_? Ow, why…”

“Malik, you —“ Isis shuddered at the unwelcome thought of the dark personality returning. A hand on her shoulder —

“Are you okay? Why did you hit me?”

Isis forced a smile on her face. “I am fine. I am sorry I slapped you, but you said something very rude to me and I was not thinking straight,” she lied. “I am going to change before dinner; I will be right back.” With that, she dashed off to her room, leaving a very confused Malik on the couch with a stinging right cheek.

*

#### 4: The Diadem and the Band

Although he always attempted to remain awake in history class, Malik often found himself dozing off during the dry lectures. In spite of his family’s ties to—in fact, perhaps due to them—ancient history, he found himself uninterested in the past and its problems.

Sighing, he let his eyes flutter shut as the classroom faded into the great Sahara, expansive and empty but so, so beautiful…

Feet moving of their own accord, he moved quickly toward the royal city. After a long trek, he finally reached his destination, a small building on the edge of the boundary between the palace entrance and the limits of the town.

Entering, he found five other people in the room with him; one was his sister and three of the others seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t place their faces. The short, unfamiliar man began speaking, though his muddled speech patterns made it difficult for Malik to remain attentive. His gaze began wandering to the garishly decorated room and the man’s strange clothes and bald spot.

“Do you accept your duty, Malik Ishtar?”

Malik blinked, startled that the man was now standing before him, holding out a gold diadem. 

“Duty?” he repeated, distaste apparent. There was nothing he despised more than duty—being tied down and deprived of freedom. “No, I’m finished with duty. I am nobody’s servant.”

“Malik!” Isis exclaimed. “You are going to forsake the world because you have an aversion to responsibility? People need us. This is your destiny — accept it.”

Malik wrinkled his nose at the word “destiny” and bit his lip. What was it that the man had said before that had Isis so nervous?

Isis continued when he didn’t say anything: “We owe it to the Pharaoh. He saved the world from your dark personality, and now we can return the favor and give him a chance to find out about his past.”

Staring at the strange crown being presented to him, Malik wanted to retort that he owed the Pharaoh nothing — but then he remembered his first step into the surface world, and the endless blue sky, and the freedom he felt when he roared down the freeway on his motorcycle.

“Okay,” he said quietly. “I’ll accept it.”

The small man smiled, showing off his crooked teeth. He wrapped the diadem around Malik’s forehead, the metal feeling surprisingly light. He shivered at the familiar feeling of magic coursing through his body, momentarily reminded of his darker personality. “We are grateful, Malik Ishtar. Good luck.”

“Wait,” he said, “what’s the purpose of this thing?”  
  


But the world was already fading back to black, and he found his eyes drifting shut…

“Malik-kun!” A shrill voice awakened him, snapping him awake from where he’d been napping on his desk. “What is your opinion of the internment of the Japanese in America?”

“Umm… I don’t know,” Malik said sheepishly. The teacher rolled her eyes.

“Try to stay awake next time. If I catch you dozing off again, you’ll receive a detention.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, forcing himself to sit up straight and pay attention to the lesson.

“Good,” she said, returning to the front of the classroom. As soon as she began lecturing again, Malik’s thoughts began to drift. What a strange dream he’d had… Had it been real? What had it meant? With a start, he realized that there was something on his forehead; he reached a hand up to feel it.

It was the diadem, cool and smooth to the touch.

*

Renn snapped awake, startled by the sound of a ruler slapping her desk. Looking up, she found herself staring into the eyes of her angry, glaring teacher.

“Sorry, sorry,” she mumbled, looking down.

“Is my class really that boring, Lei-kun? You’re free to leave if you don’t want to be here.”

“No,” she said quickly, “no, I’m just really tired. It won’t happen again.”

“It’d better not,” the teacher snapped before returning to blackboard. As soon as she’d turned away, Renn began examining the strange gold band that had appeared on her wrist. It seemed to vibrate with energy—or maybe that was just her imagination? Afraid that the other students would notice the strange pulsation, she tried to hide her arm under her desk. But the strange sensation of her blood tingling didn’t fade. She shivered; she felt both invaded and completed—as if a long lost part of her had been found.

Her mind was flooded with questions—was she going crazy? Where had the band come from? What was that weird dream about? Why was the thing vibrating so enthusiastically? What had her body so spooked? Why did she suddenly feel so different, in both her chest and her head?

/Feels like home…/

Renn almost screamed. That thought hadn’t belonged to her, and neither had that voice. Nobody else in the room had reacted to the loud voice, so it had to have been in her head—but that was impossible. Despite Ryou’s claims of harboring an Ancient Egyptian spirit in his body, Renn still believed that he suffered from some kind of mental disorder. Terrified that she’d caught whatever illness he had, she shivered and tried to push the strange presence away

/Not so easy…/

//Who are you who are you who are you go away go away I’m not crazy I’m not crazy I’m not crazy// she thought desperately. The voice made a strange, thoughtful sound and didn’t say anymore for the remainder of the lesson.

Lunch couldn’t come sooner; Renn decided to talk to Ryou, who would probably know a lot more about this kind of thing. Today, Ryou’s friend Mutou Yuugi was with him, the two seated next to one another, elbows touching. Holding her bento box and standing a few feet away from them, Renn hesitated as she watched the twosome laugh together, faces lit up with joy.

/Pharaoh!/

She felt a sense of recognition and surprise soar through her. Frowning and ignoring the strange voice, Renn approached the table shyly.

“Bakura-kun?”

Ryou looked up and smiled a little. “Hi, Renn-san.”

“May I join you? I…I need to talk to you.”

“Sure,” Ryou said, head tilted. “Please sit.”

“I can leave if it’s private,” Yuugi offered, looking between the two of them. Renn hesitated and glanced at the large pyramid that hung around Yuugi’s neck; Ryou had told her that Yuugi was his friend who was also inhabited by an ancient spirit. He wouldn’t judge her.

“No,” she said softly, sitting across from the two boys, “no, it’s fine, you can stay.”

Frowning at her nervous expression, Ryou asked, “What is it, Renn-san? You look shaken. Are you all right?”

“You know how you told me that the evil spirit of your necklace—“

“Millennium Ring,” Ryou corrected. Renn nodded.

“The evil spirit of the Millennium Ring—he’s in your head? He speaks to you telepathically?”

“Yes,” Ryou affirmed, looking perplexed. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Do you know if there are more of these spirits out there, inhabiting people’s heads?”

Ryou scratched his head, exchanging glances with Yuugi. “I suppose there could be. Anything is possible. But why do you ask?”

Renn hesitated before raising her left arm from her lap, the gold glinting in the light. Instantly, Ryou gasped as the pointers on his Millennium Ring began to dance haphazardly against his chest, as if swayed by wind. Eyebrows drawn together, Yuugi leaned closer to the table, seemingly drawn to the band. 

“That’s no ordinary bracelet,” he said in wonder. Beside him, Ryou panted; the Ring seemed to have calmed down but the pointers still vibrated slightly.

“Magic… Where did you get that? It’s not a Millennium Item…”

“No, definitely not,” Yuugi affirmed, but he looked distracted, as if his mind was elsewhere.

“I fell asleep in math class and had a strange dream in which a man gave me this and asked me to accept my duty. When I woke up, I was wearing this, and then this voice started talking to me inside of my head…”

Yuugi snapped to attention, large eyes growing even wider. “What did it say?”

“Something about ‘home’ and then when I tried to push her away, she said that it wasn’t so easy. And when I was coming over here, she said… ‘Pharaoh’, but I don’t know why.”

Yuugi and Ryou exchanged another glance, and Ryou murmured, “A woman?”; Renn wondered what they weren’t telling her and wished they would just tell her what was going on if they knew something. But suddenly, Yuugi’s pyramid began to glow, and after a brief flash of light, his posture seemed to have changed to a much more confident one.

“Your spirit knows me?” he said in a voice deeper and fiercer than Yuugi’s normal one.

“I… You’re Pharaoh?” Renn supposed that this was Yuugi’s spirit and tried to hide her wariness and fear, but it was difficult to remain calm. This spirits-possessing-bodies thing was unnerving, and this was the first time she’d been around a spirit. It was disconcerting; she wondered where Yuugi had gone now that the other personality had control of the body.

“Yes,” spirit-Yuugi affirmed. “Who is your spirit?”

“I don’t know…”

“Speak to her. Ask her who she is and what she wants with you,” spirit-Yuugi looked thoughtful.

//W-who are you?//

/About time you asked. I had a corporeal form a long time ago, in Egypt. For the past thousands of years, I have been wandering another world with my friend, inhabiting bodies. You feel different, though. As if you are kin…/

//I feel it, too.//

“She says that she’s from Egypt,” Renn said to Ryou and Yuugi’s spirit.

“She’s from Egypt and she knows me?” Yami said.

//You know Yuugi’s spirit?//

/The Pharaoh? Of course./

Renn nodded to Yami, who again looked thoughtful.

Ryou spoke up. “Does she have a name?”

//What’s your name, spirit?//

/What’s yours?/

//Renn. Lei Renn.//

/Interesting… You may call me Lei./

“She says to call her Lei,” Renn told them. Ryou nodded.

Yami said, “Will she speak to us?”

//Yuugi-san… I mean, the Pharaoh wants to speak to you.//

The band on her arm glowed briefly, and she felt a disconcerting loss of control over her own body. So this was how it felt to be possessed…

Lei bowed her head in Yami’s direction. “Pharaoh.” When she raised her head, they could see that Renn’s eyes had turned an angry shade of blue and her honey-brown hair had grown wilder. Like Yami, her confident posture gave her the illusion of height.

“You know me from Egypt,” Yami stated.

“Yes,” she replied simply.

“Why—how are you here?”

She frowned. “My friend and I left Egypt through a portal to another world.”

“Another world?” Ryou repeated. Lei looked at him for the first time, and her eyes widened.

“Of all the people! Thief King?”

Ryou blinked. She knew Bakura as well?

“No, that’s not me. But that spirit lives within me. How do you know him?”

Lei frowned. “It’s a long story. But how interesting that both the Pharaoh and the Thief King are here…. I almost feel out of my element.”

“What were you saying about another world?” Yami interrupted impatiently.

“Callias. My friend and I liked to explore, and we one day found an oasis far from the palace. We jumped into one of the ponds to cool off and found a patch of air that wasn’t quite the same as the air around it. We examined it, trying to figure out the strange phenomenon, but when we touched it, it sucked us in and transported us to Callias, a world similar to our but clearly not Egypt. For the longest time, we though that we had been sent by the gods to another nation in order to perform some duty. We tried to find the portal home, but it was lost to us. With no way home, we resigned ourselves to staying in the strange nation until we could find a passage home. 

“Years passed by, and we formed lives in the new nation. My companion died first, but her spirit was not received by the gods. That is how we knew that we were no longer in our world. She stayed with me until I died, and afterwards for a long time. We continued to look for a portal back home, but years passed by without any luck. Eventually, we separated and inhabited separate bodies, living lives over and over in that way.”

“Sounds weird…” Ryou murmured. Lei chuckled.

“You get used to it. I lost track of my friend, but I gave up living alongside people and instead merged with this Band, living with the king of the land.”

The story finished, Lei sat still in her seat, eyes flickering across Yami’s visage.

“You looked so much taller on your balcony,” she noted. Yami frowned, unsure whether or not to be insulted by this strange, foreign girl. 

“Do you know how you got here? What is the significance of this item and what does it do?”

“The Regalia were created by an old king of that other world to protect the land. This specific piece, the Band, has the power to manipulate minds. But the current king found them too powerful and decided to send them through a portal that he had created.”

Lei was about to say something, but she was interrupted by the bell that rang, signaling the end of lunch. Instantly, Yuugi switched places with Yami. Following in suit, Lei retreated back into her item without another word.

“Be careful, Renn-san,” Yuugi warned. “With magic comes danger.”

Renn nodded, touched that he cared. “Thank you, Yuugi-san.”

*

#### 5: The Invitation

“Your mail, Seto-sama,” the secretary announced, dropping a bundle on his desk.

“Hmm,” Kaiba said, concentrating on the figures on his computer screen.

It wasn’t until hours later that he actually looked through the pile. Most of the mail was business—except for the crimson-red envelope at the bottom of the pile. Frowning at where his name was written in a flamboyant, loopy script, he opened the envelope and cautiously pulled out a thick sheaf of paper.

_Kaiba Seto,_

_You are cordially invited to Duelist’s Point to celebrate the eighth anniversary of the creation of Duel Monsters. Join the top duelists of the world in a battle for the title of Duel King! The winner of the tournament will also be issued a pack of never released cards. On June 15 th, a limousine will pick you up at noon at the Kaiba Corporation headquarters._

_Are you ready to fight for the crown?_

_Pegasus J. Crawford_

“Pegasus… Hmm,” Kaiba murmured, intrigued, as he reread the brief invitation. He was itching to duel, and he hadn’t had a chance to since the KC Grand Prix. The temptation to fight Yuugi for his title was great. If he became the Duel King, then Kaiba Corporation’s reputation would increase tenfold—not to mention his ego. Smirking, he propped the invitation against his computer monitor and resumed working on an upgrade for the Duel Disk.

He was ready.

*

“It certainly is mysterious,” Yuugi wondered into the mouthpiece of the phone. He had immediately called Jounouchi after reading Pegasus’s invitation. “Pegasus has been lying low since Duelist Kingdom, and now he suddenly comes up with this tournament…”

“Could it be that he wants the Millennium Puzzle again?” Jounouchi suggested.

“Maybe… But I keep thinking about when he begged for our help when Doma took over. I get the feeling that there’s something more behind this invitation than just a tournament. Maybe he needs our help again.”

“Help from what? I don’t see anything trying to destroy the world around here—for once.”

“I don’t know…” Yuugi said, brow furrowed in worry. “Something just feels wrong… But what could it be?”

“I really don’t know, Yuugi. But I’m betting that you’re going to go so that you can find out, eh?”

“Yes,” Yuugi said. “If Pegasus needs my help, then I must give it to him. And if my intuition is wrong, then it’ll be fun to duel anyway.”

“All right!” Jounouchi cheered. “I’m in. I’ll let the others know. This will be fun! Maybe we’ll get to duel, eh, Yuugi?”

Yuugi smiled. “I would be honored, Jounouchi-kun.”

“I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”

“Bye!”

After they hung up, Yami’s image appeared beside his other. “You think that Pegasus is up to something again, Partner?”

“He must be. I don’t believe that he’s the type to host tournaments for fun. I just hope that we don’t run into too much trouble. We’ve already gone through enough in the past.”

Yami frowned and thought, _But trouble always seems to find us…_

*

Just as Jounouchi placed the phone back in its cradle, it rang again.

“Hello?”

“ _Onii-chan_!”

“’Ey, Shizuka! What’s up?”

“I’m coming to visit next week!”

“What? That’s awesome! _Okaa-san_ ’s letting you?”

“Oh…” she sounded sheepish. “She’s not happy about it, but I really miss you and want to see you. I won’t let her stop me from seeing my brother!”

Jounouchi grinned. “I’m the luckiest big brother ever.” Shizuka giggled, and Jounouchi realized something. “Wait, wait, which day are you coming? I’m going to a Duel Monsters tournament on the fifteenth…”

“Oh, I’m coming on that day… Could I come to the tournament with you?”

“Are you sure you’d want to do that?”

He could hear her smile through her words. “Of course, _Onii-chan_. I love watching you play. You’re so skilled!”

Jounouchi laughed, embarrassed by the praise. “Naw, I’m not that good.”

“Silly _Onii-chan_ ,” she said. “Of course you are. Will Anzu-san and the others be there, too?”

“Yup.”

“Cool! I’m so excited!”

Jounouchi smiled at her enthusiasm. “Me too, Shizuka. I can’t wait to see you! Now I just have to clean the house…”

*

Across town, Isis and Malik were examining their own mysterious invitations.

“Who is this Pegasus character, anyway?” Malik frowned at the fancy paper.

“He invented the card game of Duel Monsters, inspired by the ancient stone tablets in Egypt. He also created the God Cards.”

Malik’s eyes widened. “Then he was the one who entered the Pharaoh’s tomb and gave you the God Cards?”

“Yes.”

Malik shook his head, still frowning at his invitation. “I don’t understand. Why are we invited to this tournament? We aren’t the top duelists of the world…”

Isis laughed. “Malik, you placed second in the Battle City finals. I think you qualify as one of the top duelists. And I was in the Top 8, so I must as well.”

Malik sighed at the mention of Battle City. “I forget, sometimes, that there was even a Duel Monsters competition going on. I was so focused on my task of gaining the God Cards and extracting revenge from the Pharaoh… And then I was trying to get my body back from the Dark Me…” He didn’t speak again, the memories of Battle City suddenly fresh in his mind. Isis saw him struggling and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

“It’s over now, brother. We are free now, and your dark personality is gone.”

Malik nodded. “So what do you think about this tournament?” he asked casually, steering the conversation away from his bad memories. Isis noticed his tactic but let it slide.

“I get a strange feeling that there is more to this invitation than Pegasus really lets on,” she commented, frowning at her own paper. “But I don’t know what it could be…”

Malik suddenly remembered the strange dream he’d had in History class. “ _Nee-san_ , I had a weird dream today at school.”

“It was not a dream,” Isis said quietly, in that mystical tone that had always awed him as a child and frustrated him later on.

“What?” Malik said sharply.

“It was not a dream,” she repeated. “Ialu really did present us with the Regalia, along with the Pharaoh’s friend Mazaki Anzu and Kaiba Seto’s brother. There was also another girl present, but I did not recognize her.”

“Regalia?”

Isis frowned at him. “The diadem you received?”

“Oh, this thing?” He reached into one of his various pockets and drew out the strange gold crown.

“Yes, and I received this girdle.” Malik blinked; he hadn’t noticed that Isis had been wearing a gold belt around her waist that bore the same symbol – a flame – as his crown.

“What exactly…are these things?” Malik asked, examining his diadem as if he would uncover some secret button that would reveal its purpose.

Isis gave him a funny look. “Were you not listening to Ialu?”

Sheepishly, Malik rubbed the back of his head and said, “Well, he talked funny and I got bored trying to figure out what he was trying to say…”

Isis sighed, shaking her head. “They are magical items that were banished from another world. Ialu said that they had chosen us to be their carriers and would aid us in the upcoming fight to save the world from destruction.”

“Destruction?” Malik repeated, aghast.

“He spoke of the balance of forces in the world being disrupted, and an evil god rising.”

“Do you think this tournament is related to that?” Malik wondered, caressing the metal of the diadem absently.

“Yes, that is what I fear.”

Malik groaned. “ _Nee-san_ , why can’t we just live a normal life? The gods just won’t leave us alone.”

Isis smiled lightly at him and said, “You should feel honored that the gods have chosen you, Malik, to do their work on Earth. Now put that diadem on and help me find those backpacks we brought from Egypt…”

*

****

#### 6: The Amulet and the Signet Ring

Anzu was having a strange day. First, she’d fallen asleep during school for the first time in her life. Although she had merely been studying in the library, she still felt horribly ashamed. She prided herself on being a good student, so she had been surprised to wake up with her head pressed uncomfortably to the pages of her English textbook.

But even odder than falling asleep in school was the dream that she’d had during her unintentional nap. She’d dreamt of a desert city and a small shack in which she had been given a gold pendant and told that she had been chosen to bear it, protect it, and use it to help save the world. Malik, Isis, Mokuba, and a face she couldn’t place had also been in the dream, and they had also been entrusted with special items. Malik had received a crown, Isis a belt, Mokuba a ring, and the other girl a bracelet. The man who had presented the items to them — who had called himself Ialu — had told them that the items were called Regalia and were from a different world. Informing them about their new responsibilities as the bearers of the Regalia, he had warned them about the disruption of balance in the world and the rise of a dark god that would wreak havoc on the planet. Terrified — it was usually Yuugi who shouldered the burden of saving the world — she had asked how the Regalia would help save the world, but the scene had faded to black and she had awoken in the library with a gold pendant in the palm of her hand.

Confused and nervous, she had pocketed the remnant of her dream and had attempted to continue studying. But no matter how hard she tried to concentrate, her mind had kept going back to the bizarre dream and the pendant in her pocket.

Since their return from America, Anzu had resumed working for Kaiba Corporation. In addition, she had begun tutoring the children of some family friends for extra money to go towards her ballet fund. She was walking home from the small apartment of one of the kids who lived in the grungier part of town when a man stepped out of the thick shadows and called her “pretty meat”. After looking her up and down, he proceeded to accost her, soliciting for sex or “at least a little peek” — up her skirt or down her shirt, Anzu wasn’t sure, but she sure as well wasn’t going to let this creep get to her. With purposeful speed, she raised her bag and hit the man over the head with it.

_Bravo, Anzu…_ she cheered to herself — before she saw him coming at her, hand raised to hit her. In an instant, there was a blinding flash of light, and she felt the bizarre sensation of someone pushing her out of her body and into a warm room.

The “new” Anzu grabbed the man’s hand just before it made contact with her skin—and twisted it behind his back. She shoved him against the wall, holding his hands against the wall above his head.

“How dare you touch this body,” she hissed, spitting on his face. He just laughed.

“I do like myself a feisty woman,” he leered, wrenching himself free and flipping them around so that she was the one restrained. Large, calloused hands wrapped carelessly around her neck, and the man said, “But I think you need to learn your place, little bitch.”

Anzu’s pocket began glowing, and suddenly the man was thrown across the alley. A strange force field surrounded “Anzu”, and the symbol carved into the amulet appeared on her forehead, angry and glowing. She smirked.

“I said, mortal, how dare you touch this body. Now be gone, before I really decide to hurt you. And don’t bother anyone again.”

Eyes wide at the strange demonic look in the girl’s now stormy blue eyes and the weird magical barrier, the man didn’t need to be told twice. “Demonness! Please don’t hurt me,” he begged before scampering away.

The force field vanished, the glowing symbol and amulet faded, and Anzu found herself back on her feet in the alley.

“What in the world..” She examined her hands cautiously. “That wasn’t me.”

The amulet heavy in her pocket, she resumed the journey home, slightly shaken. “Do I have an other side now, too? I need to talk to Yuugi. He’ll know,” she murmured, changing her route and heading for the Game Shop.

*

“Anzu!” Yuugi exclaimed when he found her at the back door. “What are you doing here? It’s a school night.”

“I wanted to talk to you about something,” she said.

Bewildered, he invited her in and told her to wait in the living room while he got them something to drink. Once they were settled on the couch with two cups of tea, Anzu began her story.

“I fell asleep in the library,“ — Yuugi laughed at her ashamed tone — “and had a really odd dream. Then, I woke up with this,” she showed him the amulet, a large, flat, gold coin with the Regalia symbol emblazoned in the center. “Earlier tonight, I was walking home from tutoring when a pervert tried to assault me and then…something strange happened. I lost control of my body and whoever possessed it hurt the assaulter and used magic to protect me.”

Saying aloud made it sound so far-fetched, Anzu thought, but Yuugi would believe her; stranger things had happened to him before.

“It’s the same symbol that was on Renn-san’s bracelet…” he murmured. Anzu tilted her head questioningly.

“Renn-san?” she repeated.

“Bakura-kun’s friend,” Yuugi explained. “She also had a weird dream and woke up with a strange magical item, which bore the same symbol as this one.”

“Oh! Does she have brown hair?” Anzu asked. Yuugi nodded. “I saw her in the dream,” she said, remembering the unfamiliar yet unfamiliar face.

“She has an Egyptian spirit in her item, just like Bakura-kun and me. Maybe you do too?”

Anzu’s eyes widened. A spirit like the Other Yuugi? She laughed a little. “This is so strange, Yuugi. It’s always been you with the magic. I never imagined…”

Yuugi nodded, smiling, and asked, “Has the spirit said anything to you?”

“No, not a word.”

“Hmm,” Yuugi said. “Anzu, Pegasus is holding another tournament, and Jounouchi-kun and I are invited. It’s next week.”

“How exciting! Of course Honda and I are coming along to cheer you guys on,” she declared. Yuugi didn’t look quite as happy.

“I think you’ll have to,” he said solemnly.

She blinked at his worried tone. “What do you mean?”

“It’s too coincidental, the appearance of the strange jewelry and this tournament, held by Pegasus, who we know is no stranger to magic… I’m worried. I have a really bad feeling about this.”

“Oh, Yuugi…” She bit her lip, thinking about what Ialu had said about saving the world form an evil god. “I know what you mean about the bad feeling… I feel it, too. But we’ll get through it together. We always do.”

Yuugi smiled at her optimism and nodded. “I hope you’re right, Anzu.”

*

Lying in bed, Mokuba examined the gold ring, reminiscent of the signet rings of old European nobility. As his fingers ran over the delicate metal and the strange emblem, he wondered what powers it held. He could sense some sort of great force behind it. The man in his dream had told him to protect it at all costs and use it to help prevent the destruction of the world, which sounded a little too sensational for his Kaiba ears. Although he believed that magic was possible and the supernatural existed—after witnessing the actions of Pegasus, Malik, and Dartz, of course — he was still skeptical about all the doom and gloom and talk of the end of the world that Yuugi and his friends were constantly going on about.

A familiar voice distracted him from his thoughts: “Mokuba, why aren’t you asleep yet?” 

Mokuba hurriedly hid the ring under the covers. “I’m in bed, I’m in bed! What more do you want from me?”

Kaiba ‘hmm’ed and sat down at the foot of his bed. “Next week, I’ll be attending a tournament held by Pegasus,” he announced.

“Pegasus?!” Mokuba exclaimed. “But he’s dangerous, _Nii-sama_! I’m coming with you.”

Kaiba cocked an eyebrow at him. “Don’t be ridiculous, Mokuba. It’s just a tournament.”

“It’s never ‘just a tournament’ anymore,” Mokuba insisted. “Please, let me come with you. What if something happens to you and there’s no one there to help you?”

“Nothing’s going to happen, and on the off chance that it does, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself,” Kaiba declared. Mokuba glared at him, hoping that all the glaring practice he did every morning in the mirror would pay off. Kaiba sighed. “I suppose I wouldn’t mind your company.”

A grin spread across Mokuba’s face, and he threw himself at Kaiba in a hug. “Thank you, Nii-sama! I promise I won’t be a bother.”

Kaiba patted his back awkwardly. “Now go to sleep.”

Mokuba pouted. “Fine. ‘Night, _Nii-sama_.”

“Good night, Mokuba,” Kaiba said, turning the lights off and leaving his room.

Mokuba slipped the ring on, wondering if it could help his brother in case they got in trouble with Pegasus. He wished that he could tell Kaiba about both the ring and the dream, but he knew that his brother would just tell him that it was nonsense and that he was hallucinating because he’d been around Yuugi too much.

As his eyes slid shut, he vaguely wondered what in the world Pegasus could be up to…

*

****

#### 7: Arrival at Duelist’s Point

“What are you packing for?” Renn followed Ryou around as she threw various snacks into his oversized backpack.

“I’m leaving for a Duel Monsters tournament tomorrow,” he told her as he debated bringing a lighter. He tossed it into the bag.

“Whoa, that’s really cool,” she replied, helping him stuff a jacket into the backpack. “I knew you were good, but I didn’t know you were good enough to play competitively.”

He laughed, embarrassed. “I was actually one of the top eight duelists in Battle City, if you can believe it.”

“Wow,” she said, looking at him in a new light. “Can I come watch?”

Ryou blinked. “You would want to do that?”

“Why not? I’ve only ever watched tournaments on television before. It would be really cool to see you play.”

“Umm, sure, I guess,” he smiled at her shyly. “It would be nice to have somebody to cheer me on.”

She smiled back. It was nice to have somebody to cheer on, she decided.

*

When Yuugi first spotted Malik and Isis standing in front of the Kaiba Corporation building, he was shocked but excited. Running to the two siblings with his arm outstretched in a wave, he called out, “Isis! Malik!” Jounouchi and the others trailed at a slower pace behind him, not sharing Yuugi’s enthusiasm about the reappearance of their former enemy and his mysterious sister.

Isis stepped forward and bowed deeply. “Pharaoh,” she said reverently, eying her brother when he didn’t do the same. Malik rolled his eyes and shifted his feet nervously before bowing his head, his light hair falling over his face.

“Hello, Yuugi,” he said simply.

“Malik!” Isis hissed.

Embarrassed, Yuugi laughed awkwardly. “It’s okay, Isis-san. That’s not really me, anyway. I’m just Yuugi.”

Malik seemed to relax slightly at his words. Yuugi smiled when he noticed. “So what are you doing back here in Domino? I was actually planning on going to Egypt and seeing if you could help me regain the Other Me’s lost memory.”

“We’re living here, actually,” Isis said.

“What?!” Yuugi exclaimed. “Since when? How come we’ve never run into each other?”

Jounouchi, who had finally caught up, interrupted gruffly, “Malik! What are you doing here?” He, Anzu, Shizuka, and Honda all kept a surreptitious distance from the again-twitchy Malik. They had neither forgiven nor forgotten his part in Jounouchi and Mai’s near-deaths.

“We’re attending the same tournament as you are, but we also live here now,” Isis repeated, sensing her brother’s anxiety at the hostility radiating off of Yuugi’s friends. “When we returned to Egypt, we realized it didn’t really have anything left for us, so we decided to move here. We’d learned the language, and I had a job, and everything is just so much more convenient here.”

“Yuugi,” Malik said earnestly, “I promise that after this, we’ll help you recover the Pharaoh’s memory. I…” He glanced at Isis, whose was watching him carefully, both expectant and proud. “I owe you.”

Yuugi smiled directly at him, and the others seemed to relax infinitesimally. “Thank you, Malik.” He stared up at him for a second before turning to Anzu, alarmed. “Malik has the symbol, too!”

“Oh!” she gasped, hand automatically coming up to where her amulet rested on her breast, “then it really wasn’t a dream.” Malik nodded, touching the diadem briefly. He was about to speak when Ryou and Renn joined them.

“Good morning, everyone,” Ryou greeted politely. They all murmured something courteously in response.

“’Ey, who’s your friend, Bakura?”

“This is Lei Renn,” he introduced. “Renn-san, this is Jounouchi-kun, Honda-kun, and Anzu-san.” Jounouchi winked, Honda nodded in acknowledgment, and Anzu…

Anzu stared at the band on Renn’s left wrist, glancing between it and the diadem. Malik got the gist of the idea and began peering at the band as well.

“You’re the girl from the dream,” they said in unison. Renn blinked and lowered her head to look at her bracelet.

“Yeah…” she said uncertainly. “I thought you looked familiar.” She looked at Isis. “And you have one, too…”

“What’s going on here?” Jounouchi interrupted, now also peering at the bracelet, the crown, the necklace, and the belt.

Distracted by the mystery of the items, nobody noticed Kaiba and Mokuba’s arrival.

“Hi, everyone,” Mokuba interjected cheerfully.

“Hmm,” said Kaiba.

“Mokuba-kun, Kaiba-kun,” Yuugi replied, smiling. An awkward silence settled over the ragtag group, and he’d just been about to break it when two black limos pulled up to the front of the building, and a black-suited, sunglasses-wearing man stepped out of the front of the first car and fumbled with some papers. 

“Mutou Yuugi, Kaiba Seto, Jounouchi Katsuya, Malik Ishtar, Isis Ishtar, and Bakura Ryou?” They nodded and the man mumbled, “Pegasus-sama was right about all the cheerleaders…” before opening the doors for them.

Kaiba strode into the first one, and Mokuba scurried after him. Without hesitating, Jounouchi took the second one, followed by Yuugi, Honda, Anzu, and Shizuka. Shrugging, Isis and Malik got into the first one, followed by Ryou and Renn.

The first car was ruled by silence. Malik kept glancing shiftily at Ryou.

“You’re Namu, right?” Ryou spoke up suddenly, after catching Malik’s eye.

“Oh, um,” Malik stuttered, embarrassed, “actually, I’m Malik. ‘Namu’ was just the name I used during Battle City.”

“Oh,” Ryou blinked. “Well, nice to meet you again, anyway. I’m Bakura,” he said, holding his hand out. Malik took his hand and shook it, feeling guilty for possessing the body of such a polite boy.

Suddenly, he remembered something important. “Is Rishid meeting us at the airport?” he asked Isis. She looked nervous.

“No, he has to work.”

“What?” Malik exclaimed. “ _Nee-san_ , I can’t… What if he…” He swallowed apprehensively. Isis looked sharply at him.

“What if who what? I thought you said that you just had nightmares, not…” She didn’t want to say it, but they both knew what she meant. His gaze drifted out the window. Neither said anymore, simultaneously trying to push away their fears about the possibility of the return of Malik’s dark personality.

Mokuba twiddled his thumbs while Kaiba ‘hmm’ed at his laptop screen. Feeling extremely uncomfortable, Renn sat back in her seat and hugged her backpack to her chest. These people seemed nice enough, but the mysterious power she felt radiating off of them was more than a little daunting.

/They will be useful in this war,/ Lei said mysteriously, but Renn didn’t want to know what she meant by “war” and was too afraid to ask.

Arriving at the airplane garage shortly, they filed out of the limos to board Pegasus’s luxurious private airplane.

Kaiba instantly pulled out his laptop again, and Mokuba joined Yuugi, Jounouchi, Honda, Anzu, and Shizuka, who were playing a card game. Isis and Malik settled down in seats next to the window, Malik’s eyes darting everywhere in delighted fascination at the flying contraption. Ryou sat with Renn but watched Yuugi and the others play, smiling when they laughed and chuckling when they got particularly enthusiastic. Renn simply pulled out a book and read quietly.

After the first round, Yuugi called out, “Bakura-kun, do you want to play?”

“Yeah,” Anzu said, standing up, “you can take my spot, Bakura.”

Ryou smiled, “Sure, thanks,” and joined the group at the table. Anzu walked over and took his now-empty seat next to Renn, who lifted her eyes from the pages of her book to look at Anzu curiously.

“Hi,” she said, smiling kindly.

“Hello,” Renn replied uncertainly. Anzu lowered her voice.

“Yuugi said that there is a spirit that resides in your bracelet,” she said. “Have you spoken to it?”

“Lei—the spirit—says it’s called a band,” Renn corrected before nodding. “We haven’t spoken too much, but she comments on things randomly.”

“I think I have a spirit, too,” Anzu explained. “It protected me when I was in trouble, but I can’t get it to say anything. I was wondering if you had to do something special to get it to talk.”

Renn shook her head. “Lei just started talking to me of her own accord.”

Anzu sighed, hand around the amulet. “I guess there’s nothing I can do, then.”

“That’s the same sign again!” Yuugi exclaimed loudly a few feet away. Renn, Anzu, Malik, and Isis’s eyes all shot to the table, where everyone was peering at Mokuba’s fingers, one on which he wore a large gold signet ring. “Anzu, Renn-san, Malik-kun, Isis-san…”

They joined the group in looking at the ring. Anzu nodded. “Mokuba-kun was in the dream as well”

“Ah… Do you know about these items, Yuugi?” Mokuba said as he glanced nervously at Kaiba, who was looking at the group now that they had all gathered in one huddle.

Yuugi shook his head. “Not very much. The spirit of Renn-san’s band said that they were created by an old king to protect his land but were thrown into this world because they were too powerful. But I don’t know what they do or what they’re really for.”

“Ah, do you have a spirit, Mokuba? Malik? Isis-san?” Anzu asked.

“No, it appears to only be a trait of some Regalia,” Isis supplied.

“What do you think—“

A loud rumble interrupted Mokuba’s thought, and the plane began to descent faster than it should, its frame trembling and jolting unnaturally. Those standing screamed as they were knocked to their feet. 

“What’s happening?” cried Shizuka, clinging onto Jounouchi in fear.

“Oh my god, we’re going to die,” Renn murmured, climbing into her seat and fastening her seatbelt.

“Calm down and sit down, everyone!” Yuugi ordered, scrambling to return to a seat himself.

“I’m going to go check on the captain and find out what’s happening,” Honda volunteered, joined by Kaiba, who leaped up and headed for the cockpit.

“Eh?” they said loudly. There was no captain at all, only an open door that overlooked the ocean.

“The captain jumped off,” Honda announced to the rest of the cabin.

“What do we do, what do we do?” wailed Jounouchi.

Kaiba growled and ran to the wheel, taking control of the plane.

“Don’t worry, everyone, _NIi-sama_ will land us safely,” Mokuba said confidently.

Shizuka shuddered, still gripping Jounouchi’s t-shirt. “Good thing Kaiba-san is here, huh, _Onii-chan_?” Jounouchi held her closer and grumbled about rich boys and their jets.

After a bumpy descent, they finally landed, the engine rumbling to a stop. The smell of smoke and burnt plastic filled their noses, and those at the windows peered at the burning wing curiously. The occupants of the plane breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief.

“Thank Ra,” Isis said quietly as they unbuckled their seatbelts and headed for the opening at the front. 

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Anzu confided to Yuugi, who nodded.

Kaiba was trying his cell phone, but there was no signal. He shook it in frustration; it should have a signal anywhere in the world, but it just kept flashing “No Signal”.

Yuugi peeked his head out of the door and gasped.

They had landed on a beach with white sand and crystal clear waters, and close to the shore, what looked like a massive forest began, followed by snow-capped mountains in the background. Off to the west, the tops of the trees appeared to change into tropical foliage, hinting at some of kind jungle. To the north, a castle’s towers poked out of the tall trees.

Anzu stood by him, gazing at the landscape as well. “Wow… It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Yuugi nodded. “Mm.”

“’Ey, Yuugi, Anzu! Come look at this!” They rushed back to the cabin at Jounouchi’s prompt and found him handing out rolls of sleeping bags. “I found all these emergency supplies in this storage thingy,” he explained as he threw some granola bars to each person.

/It’s almost as if he knew we were going to crash…/ Yami commented. Yuugi shivered. Would Pegasus really try to kill them? Or had he been counting on Kaiba to save them?

*

Pegasus stood at his balcony, silver hair waving in the wind. He looked out at the setting sun, a vibrant red disk swimming in a sea of pink, orange, and purple. Behind him, five figures stood, silently waiting for their orders. Wrapped in matching black cloaks with the same emblem as the Regalia on their hoods, they watched their new master with alert eyes.

“Master Pegasus?” Mikaa spoke up, trying unsuccessfully to suppress her impatience. Pegasus whirled around, eyes glinting mischievously.

“It is time, my Winged Knights.”

With low bows, they spread their black wings and flew from the castle, becoming small black dots against the sunset.

“Fly, my Angels. Bring Cyndia back to me…”


	2. Chapter 2

#### 8: Rogue Spirits

As nightfall settled, the ragtag group decided to escape the smell of burning rubber and set up camp higher up on the beach, where the tide wouldn’t reach them. They had managed to start up a fire, using the firewood in the storage bin and Ryou’s lighter. Currently, Anzu, Shizuka, and Renn were cooking canned soup over the makeshift fire. Kaiba sat off to the side, typing on his laptop once again; Mokuba lay on the sand beside him. Isis was deep in thought, so Malik joined the others, who were huddled near the fire.

“You really think that the plane crash was planned, Yuugi?” Honda asked. Yuugi nodded.

“Why else would the captain have left without telling us? That just doesn’t make sense to me… All of this is just too much of a coincidence—the Regalia, the tournament, the airplane…”

“That bastard,” Jounouchi muttered.

“Speaking of the tournament,” Ryou spoke up, “where is it? Where is everyone else?”

“I was wondering that, too,” Malik piped up. “Unless there isn’t a tournament at all?”

Four pairs of eyes turned and looked at him. Isis and Mokuba’s eyes also shot over to Malik. Silence.

“What do you mean?” Jounouchi finally asked.

“Yuugi’s right about this all being too coincidental… But what if it’s all just a trap?”

“I agree with Malik,” Yuugi said. “I have a bad feeling about this island.”

“We’re sure this is Pegasus’s island?” Honda questioned.

Ryou nodded. “Just look at the castle over there,” he pointed to the north, “it looks just like the castle at Duelist Kingdom, but bigger.”

Anzu announced that dinner was ready, and Shizuka and Renn passed out cups of soup and bags of crackers. Unfortunately, there had been no bowls or spoons in the storage bin, only cups. Kaiba peered at the container in distaste but drank the soup anyway. The others ate happily, discussing lighter topics over dinner. Yuugi smiled around the circle at all the people who had become his friends in such a short time and thought happily that even if they had fallen into a trap set up by Pegasus, at least they were in this together.

*

Shadowcat finished chanting his spell and remained floating in midair, above the forest. A smirk rose on his face as he waited for the effects to take place.

With an ear-splitting boom, an enormous explosion issued above him, and a trail of powerful electricity flew to the beach area of the island. He followed the sparks, watching the magic do its job—

The job of separating rogue spirits from their hosts’ bodies.

*

By the time they had finished talking, the gibbous moon was glowing brightly above them; two hours had passed. As everyone helped the girls clean up, Malik excused himself to do nature’s business in the bushes of the nearby forest.

Suddenly, there was an explosion in the sky, and four red streams of magic struck Yuugi, Ryou, Anzu, and Renn. Another one soared into the forest, to where Malik presumably was.

They doubled over, faces scrunched in pain as they screamed silently.

“What’s happening?” Jounouchi exclaimed, running to Yuugi as Honda ran to Anzu, but they were both shocked by some heated magical barrier. Suddenly, the magic fizzled out and there were four consecutive thuds.

“Other Me! Are you okay?” Yuugi cried out in concern at his other half being deposited onto the ground like garbage. He ran to him and held him up in his arms. Yami groaned and looked around at the surroundings. Then he turned to Yuugi with an expression of disbelief. Seeing the others beside him only gave him an even bigger shock.

“Partner…”

“Are you all right? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Yuugi answered, concerned. Yami took a deep breath.

“Partner, we’re separate.”

Yuugi’s eyes grew wider than ever, and he was about to voice his shock when he was interrupted by an irritated “What the hell is this?” They turned and saw Bakura flailing his arms wildly at Ryou.

“Yami no Bakura-kun!” Yuugi exclaimed. He looked around and saw Lei and an Anzu-lookalike examining their new solid bodies as well. He ran to Ryou, who was still staring at Bakura in shock.

“Bakura-kun! What happened? How is this possible?”

Ryou never got a chance to reply because a loud scream issued from the forest. 

“Oh no, Malik!” Yuugi ran towards where the boy had gone off, hoping that nothing had happened. But suddenly, a frightened Malik dashed out of the trees without even seeing him.

“No, no, no,” he was saying repeatedly under his breath, looking as if he’d seen a ghost.

“Malik?” 

He glanced back at the forest, wondering what had the other boy so spooked. A moment later, he heard a strange—but vaguely familiar—voice crow, “Pretty-light? Where did you go? Did I scare you? There’s nothing to be afraid of…” followed by a cackle.

Yuugi almost screamed himself as Malik’s dark personality emerged from the bushes, teeth bared in a sinister smile and eyes dilated joyfully. He purred, “Hello again, Yuugi. Where has my little light gone?”

Yuugi backed up slowly as Mariku advanced slowly, licking his lips. Sensing Yuugi’s fear, Yami rushed to his partner’s side, the Millennium Puzzle glowing as he pushed Yuugi behind him.

“What are _you_ doing here? We killed you!” Yami yelled, enraged at the reappearance of their former nemesis.

Mariku threw his head back and laughed. He leaned in until his face was inches away from Yami’s and tilted his head. “What did I tell you, Pharaoh? You can never be rid of darkness… It is everywhere,” he whispered, tapping Yami’s tan nose cheerily. He spotted something out of the corner of his eye. “Oh, little Malik!” he cried enthusiastically, leaving Yami to stalk towards Malik, who stood next to Isis, looking terrified. At the sight of Mariku, Isis gasped and stepped back instinctively, her hand flying to her mouth as memories came flying back from where she had suppressed them.

Mariku hissed at her before smiling sweetly at Malik. “Why did you run away?” he whined. “I’m just so happy to see you, little light… I’ve been so _lonely_ in the darkness.”

Malik echoed Isis’s step backwards, squeezing his eyes shut as if he could will his darker side away. “Please don’t hurt anyone,” he begged, shaking his head frantically.

Mariku blinked innocently. “What made you think that I wanted to hurt anybody?”

Bewildered, Malik opened his eyes to see that Mariku was holding wide open and a wore a terrifying smile on his face.

“I just want to feel you, Pretty-Light! Soft human flesh… It’s been so long since I’ve felt anything but darkness…”

Looking to the others for help, he found that everyone was staring in confusion at Mariku’s strange behavior as well. Isis and Yuugi both shrugged at him but looked worried at the same time.

Mariku sighed. “C’mere, little Malik,” he beckoned with his hands, “or else I’ll make you.”

Horrified expression taking over again, Malik tentatively stepped forward into the other’s arms, body as stiff as a plank of wood. Mariku wrapped his arms around the identical body and rubbed his cheek on Malik’s shoulder happily. Malik’s eyes shot in every direction, begging for help from the others.

A sharp, wild laughter cut through the tense silence, and eyes turned to look at Bakura, who was chortling from his place on the ground. “This is the thing that defeated me in Battle City? Ridiculous,” he sneered.

Within seconds, Mariku had lifted Bakura off of his feet, powerful tan hands crushing his throat. “Insult me again, spirit,” he hissed, the diadem on his head glowing violet. “Ooh, a new toy,” he said, smiling maniacally. Bakura snorted, the Millennium Ring glowing as he kicked Mariku in the stomach, releasing his grip on his neck. He rolled his eyes and went back to lying on the ground.

“You’re weak and stupid.”

Mariku growled, but stilled when Malik said again quietly, “Please, don’t hurt anyone.”

“This is entertaining and all, but what in the world is going on?” a new voice spoke up. Everyone spun to look at Lei, who was standing beside Renn, next to the fire.

“I don’t know, but it must have been those strange lights that hit us,” Anzu commented.

“This must all be part of Pegasus’s plan…” Ryou reflected quietly.

“But why? Why would he need to separate us?” Yuugi wondered.

“He must want to weaken us,” Yami spoke up, now fuchsia eyes hard as he remembered how weak he had felt the last time Yuugi had been taken away from him. Everyone mulled this over in silence, a sense of anxiety and nervousness settling over the group.

“Well, we won’t let him!” a soft voice piped. They looked at the speaker, Renn, whose hands were clenched into fists, blue eyes determined. She blushed awkwardly at the attention she was receiving but added, “Well, we won’t, right? We may have fallen into his trap, but if we go down, we’ll go down fighting! He can’t take advantage of us like this!”

A warm smile rose upon Ryou’s face. “I agree with Renn-san.” The now significantly larger group murmured in agreement.

“Let’s rest now, then, and we can head towards Pegasus’s castle tomorrow, and figure out from there what he’s up to,” Anzu suggested.

“Sounds like a plan,” cheered Jounouchi, now reenergized from his shock of Mariku’s surprise reappearance.

“We can keep watch in shifts,” Malik added, “so that Pegasus can’t take us by surprise.”

Yami nodded. “Good idea. Yuugi and I will take the first shift. With two people, there’s less risk of people falling asleep during their watch.”

“Bakura and I will take the second one,” Ryou volunteered. Bakura grumbled but didn’t say anything else. The others volunteered in pairs, and a schedule was arranged. Setting up their sleeping bags on the soft, white sand, the group felt a warm camaraderie settle over them, the kind that teamwork and tough situations foster. Although their wariness of Mariku had not faded, there were more important things to worry about—like what Pegasus was planning for them, and what kind of troubles the next day was going to entail.

  


* * *

  


#### 9: Kidnapped!

Although he attempted to stay awake, Yami fell asleep during their shift, unaccustomed to the burdens of having his own physical body. Smiling, Yuugi covered him with the sleeping bag and woke Ryou up, explaining that Yami had fallen asleep.

Following Yuugi out of earshot of the slumbering group, he asked, “Do you want me to wake up the spirit…ah, I suppose he’s not so much a spirit anymore.” He frowned, confused by his own words. Yuugi shook his head and smoothed down the sand beneath his feet before sitting down.

“I’m not that tired, and besides, it’s nice to be alone with you,” he said, an open, friendly smile on his face. At his words, Ryou turned bright red.

“Yuugi, I…” But he didn’t know what he was trying to say. Yuugi didn’t skip a beat.

“Sometimes, it’s hard to talk to you with Jounouchi and Honda and Anzu around, because they’re so lively, and you’re so reserved,” he explained. “But I like it when we’re alone because then I can focus my attention on you, and you always open up when it’s just the two of us. That makes me happy.”

Ryou looked down at the sand, cheeks still flaming. He had no idea how to respond. “I like it, too,” he said simply. Yuugi smiled at him and scooted closer, leaning against him. With an excessive amount of will, Ryou suppressed the shudder that threatened to reverberate through his body at the intimate contact.

“This is so beautiful,” Yuugi commented softly, gazing at the moon and its reflection on the rolling tides. Ryou nodded his agreement, attention more on the boy at his side than the landscape. He had never known Yuugi to be a flirt—could he be teasing Ryou unintentionally? Since they had developed, his feelings for his friend had always been kept tightly under wraps, as he was terrified that Bakura would hurt Yuugi if they ever got together.

Time flew by as they sat in silence, Yuugi drawing vague words and pictures in the sand with his finger. Ryou watched him, smiling at his childishness. A happy face, a star, Kuribou, the Millennium Puzzle, their names.

“Is that how you write it?” Yuugi asked, looking up at him. Ryou smiled lightly, hesitating before he added a small heart between the two names.

His cheeks burned as Yuugi stared at their names for a moment, then regarded him with bemusement. “Bakura-kun?”

Cursing himself for such a stupid move, Ryou cleared the sand of their names and drew a tic-tac-toe board, placing an “X” in the center box. If anything could distract Yuugi, it was a game. True enough, he placed an “O” in the upper left hand corner and won within seconds. They played a few more rounds before Yuugi yawned.

Ryou smiled. “Go to sleep, Yuugi-kun. I’ll wake up the spirit.”

Nodding sleepily, Yuugi stood up, stretched his arms, and smiled at Ryou. “This was fun, ne?”

Ryou stood as well and said quietly, “Yes,” shyly averting his gaze. They walked back to the main area where everyone was sleeping.

“Good night, Bakura-kun,” Yuugi whispered.

“Good night,” Ryou replied, shaking Bakura. “Spirit, wake up. It’s your turn to keep watch.”

Bakura groaned. “Go away,” he grumbled.

“Spirit,” Ryou repeated, continuing to shake him. Bakura shoved him off and rubbed his eyes.

“What do you want.”

“Come keep watch with me.”

Bakura sighed and followed him reluctantly; they sat down on the sand. The rest of the watch was cloaked by silence.

“This is really weird,” Bakura said after a long silence.

“Hmm?”

“This. Having my own body. Being here.” He gesticulated vaguely at the air, frowning. Ryou snatched his arm and pulled it against his own.

“You’re tanner than I am,” he observed, awed at the difference in skin tone. Bakura chuckled, reclaiming his arm and lying down on the sand. 

“My skin was very dark when I last had my own body.”

“Wow,” Ryou said, looking like he wanted to ask more, but Bakura wasn’t looking at him anymore. Ryou followed his gaze up to the stars that littered the sky.

The rest of their shift was spent in companionable silence.

*

Anzu and the spirit of the Amulet sat facing the ocean, watching the tides lap upon the shore and listening to the rustling of the trees behind them.

“Do you have a name?” Anzu ventured, glancing at what was almost a mirror image of herself, but for the blue-violet eyes and dark skin.

“I don’t remember it,” she replied solemnly.

“You can use mine,” Anzu said graciously. “Mazaki. How does that sound?”

Mazaki tested the word on her own tongue and nodded. “It sounds exotic,” she commented. Anzu laughed.

“Not really; it’s pretty typical.” She fidgeted as silence reigned again. “So are you from Ancient Egypt?”

Mazaki looked slightly surprised. “How could you tell?”

Anzu laughed. “We seem to constantly be encountering Egyptian spirits. Yuugi solved the Millennium Puzzle, you see, and unlocked the soul of the other Yuugi, and ever since, we’ve been running into trouble.”

“The other Yuugi?”

“Ah, that is to say, the Nameless Pharaoh,” Anzu corrected.

“That really was him? He was the spitting image of the Pharaoh, but I never imagined ever seeing him again.”

“Did you know him?”

“Not personally,” she replied, “but of course everyone knew him.”

“Oh,” Anzu said. “He’s a really good friend. He has saved me countless times. I’m so glad that we have him.”

Mazaki looked at her, perceptive eyes deciphering the emotion behind Anzu’s words. “You are fond of him.”

Anzu blushed. “N-no, I just –” Mazaki raised an eyebrow. She faltered. “Okay, maybe.”

Mazaki chuckled for a brief two seconds. “Be glad you know him in this lifetime, then. A common girl like you would fare no chance in Egypt as a match for the Pharaoh.”

Trying not to be offended, Anzu leaned her arms on her knees, resting her chin on her forearms. “I’m not sure that I really fare a chance here, either,” she admitted, feeling self-conscious for sharing this insecurity with someone she had just met. But if they were to share a body and exchange thoughts like Yuugi and Yami did, then there was no point of hiding her crush from the spirit.

Mazaki eyed the stars in the sky, looking thoughtful. “Don’t give yourself too little credit. You can never predict how things will truly turn out in the end.”

Grateful, Anzu smiled at her almost-twin, deciding that she quite liked Mazaki. 

*

In her sleep, Lei shifted and mumbled under her breath. Mazaki reached over to shake her into consciousness, but she snapped awake before she was even touched. Reflexively, she grabbed Mazaki’s arm and twisted it. Mazaki winced.

“Easy,” she said, holding up her other hand in a pacifist gesture.

“Oh,” Lei said as she sat up. “Hello, Friend.”

Mazaki nodded. “It’s been a long time.”

“Yes. So you merged with the Amulet after all… Ironic, considering your violent disposition. What happened to your last body? What made you give it all up?”

“It died of torture at the hands of the Administrator.”

“You were taken to prison?” Lei said in surprise.

Mazaki only nodded, lips pressed together in a thin line of distaste. “I escaped but the body did not survive. I roamed free for a time, but I eventually fused with the king’s Amulet.”

“I see,” Lei murmured, walking with Mazaki.

“How have you been, Friend?”

“Lei,” she supplied. “I am called Lei now.”

Mazaki nodded. “Anzu dubbed me Mazaki.”

“I’ve been doing fine. Zaladin is a good host and a good man, as I’m sure that you are aware. I have now mastered the magic of this little Band, which I am rather proud of accomplishing.”

“Don’t be too pleased with yourself; it would be ridiculous if you had not learned magic with your 3,000 years of spare time.”

At first, Lei frowned at Mazaki’s serious voice, but then she burst into a fond smile. “I have missed your dearly, Friend.”

“As have I, Lei.”

*

During the darkest hour of the day, just before sunrise, Pann hovered above the forest at the border of the beach, eyes darting between the sleeping teenagers and the two girls keeping watch at the edge of the campsite. Dismissing the two girls as powerless, he focused in on the two youngest members of the party, a girl and a boy. He had been assigned to the ingredient “blood of a child”. Master Pegasus had instructed him that the younger, the better.

Running a hand through his hair, he smirked, pulled his hood over his head, and spread his wings. In a sudden motion, he swooped down, snatching the children from their sleeping bags before the two on watch could even blink. He soared back up into the starry sky, gripping his victims tightly.

The girl let out an ear-shattering scream, and Pann cringed, almost letting them go as the horrible sound pierced his eardrums. Catching on, the boy yelled as well, kicking him. Pann glared at the two brats. 

“Shut up,” he hissed, “or I’ll make you.”

The girl stopped instantly, eyes full of fear, but the boy glared back at him.

“Go ahead. _Nii-sama_! _Nii-sama_ , help! Help, _Nii-sama_!” he continued shouting. Irritated, Pann grabbed a handful of his messy black hair and yanked it. “Ow!” the kid whined.

“That’s right, twerp,” Pann sneered. “Keep quiet. We’re just going to go on a little trip…”

*

Jounouchi shot awake at the sound of shrill screaming: the horrible feeling in his gut and the empty bedroll beside him told him that Shizuka was in trouble. Instantly leaping to his feet, he yelled her name, following her screams…upwards? There, in the air, above the forest, some kind of hooded, winged creature had Shizuka in its grasp. In his other arm rested another body, and when Jounouchi saw Kaiba sprint past him and right into the forest, he knew that it must be Mokuba.

“Shizuka!” he shouted, not caring whether or not he awakened the entire camp. “Shizuka! Hey, Kaiba, wait up!” But Kaiba didn’t stop running, and the winged figure just kept flying higher and higher, farther and farther in the sky. “Shizuka!” he called, dashing through the forest. “Shizuka! I’ll save you!”

But the winged figure was almost invisible now, a tiny speck flying to Pegasus’s castle.

“Argh! That bastard!” he yelled, kicking a tree. He continued running towards Pegasus’s castle, even though he could hardly tell where he was going since all the trees looked the same.

After running for what seemed like forever, he glimpsed a flash of white up ahead—Kaiba’s trench coat!

“Kaiba!” he called. Kaiba didn’t turn around or reply. When Jounouchi got closer, he saw that he was bent over, hands on his knees as he panted. “Kaiba.” Kaiba barely spared him a glance, instead taking a deep breath before taking off again. “Hey, wait up!” he shouted, running after him.

  


* * *

  


#### 10: Shields and Sparks

Back at the campsite, Shizuka’s screams and Jounouchi’s yelling had awoken the rest of the group.

“What’s going on?” Ryou asked, looking around at all of the empty sleeping bags.

Trembling, Renn said, “This big angel or something came and took Shizuka-chan and Mokuba-kun… And then Jounouchi and Kaiba took off after them.”

“Where? Where did they go?” Honda asked urgently. Renn pointed shakily at the forest, in the direction of Pegasus’s castle.

“Why didn’t you do anything?” he demanded, worry clouding his eyes.

A guilty look crossed Renn’s face. “We tried, but he was too fast. He didn’t even touch the ground. By the time we saw him, he had already flown away.”

“It’s okay, Renn-san,” Anzu piped in, sensing Renn’s distress, “at least now we know what took them and what direction Jounouchi-san and Kaiba-san went.”

Yuugi changed the subject at Renn’s still guilty look: “A big angel, you said?”

She nodded. “It had big black wings and was wearing some kind of hood.”

“Was it a Duel Monster?” Yami asked.

“I don’t know…”

“Well, let’s eat breakfast, and then we’ll follow Jounouchi and Kaiba and help them get Mokuba-kun and Shizuka-chan back,” suggested Yuugi.

Breakfast consisted of rice crispy bars and peanuts. The group ate quietly, oddly aware of the missing members of their party. When they finished, they packed up the campsite and began moving into the forest, towards Pegasus’s castle. Short conversations flitted throughout the group, mostly between Yuugi, Anzu, and Honda. The reality of the danger they were in had finally registered with Shizuka and Mokuba’s kidnapping. Yuugi commented sadly that as usual, they had no idea what was going on.

They had been walking for what felt like hours when Malik stopped in his tracks. Isis stopped, as well, looking at him curiously.

“Malik?”

Eyebrows furrowed, he looked from side to side. “He disappeared.”

“Who?”

“The dark me,” he clarified, frowning. He wondered if they could communicate telepathically:

//Hello?//

/Hello, Little Light!/

//Where did you go?//

/I saw a little creature… It looked so happy, so I chased after it and killed it,/ Mariku replied cheerily.

Malik swallowed, grimacing. //Will you please come back now?//

/So demanding, little Malik. Why should I listen to you?/

//I’ll give you a present,// Malik improvised, desperate to have Mariku within eyesight. Who knew what kind of havoc the deranged child of darkness would wreak if not kept under watch? What this Pegasus was planning seemed bad enough; Yuugi and his friends didn’t need to worry about split personalities wanting to destroy the world as well.

As he had predicted, Mariku responded with glee. /A present? I’m excited! Does it involve inflicting pain?/

//Uh… It’s a surprise.//

/Okay! I’m coming now!/

Malik blinked as the mental conversation ended. Isis was staring at him strangely. “Are you all right?” she asked in concern.

“I’m fine; I was just talking to him. He’s coming back now. He just got…distracted.”

Isis pressed her lips into a line, avoiding eye contact. “Malik, are you sure it’s safe to have him around like this? We don’t even know why he’s back… He should be dead.”

“It’s not like we have any choice,” Malik reasoned. “He seems…okay, so far. He hasn’t threatened anyone but the other Bakura yet, and he deserved it.”

“I’m just…”

“Scared. I know. I am, too, _Nee-san_.”

Isis sighed, hand on the Girdle. “I just do not understand why—”

“Hello,” a deep voice whispered. Malik shivered as he sensed another being behind him, standing close but just far enough to not make any body contact, instead merely breathing on his neck.

“Hi,” he said lightly. “Try to stay with me this time, okay?”

“When do I get my present?” Mariku asked.

“Present?” Isis mouthed silently.

“Don’t ask,” he mouthed back, before replying to Mariku: “Not yet; you have to earn it.”

Mariku pouted and clung onto his arm, looking around. “Where did everyone go?”

They looked around, but not another being was in sight. The forest was eerily silent around them. Malik wondered if Mariku had really seen an animal, because no other life seemed to exist on this island.

“What are we going to do now?” Malik sighed.

“We will just have to continue the journey by ourselves for now,” Isis answered. “If the rest of the group is going to Pegasus’s castle, and we head towards Pegasus’s castle, then we are bound to catch up with them sometime.”

“All right,” Malik said, shifting his backpack. “Let’s go.”

*

Up ahead, Ryou had noticed that Malik, Mariku, and Isis disappeared. When he announced his observation, the group halted and began to walk back, searching from side to side and calling out Malik and Isis’s names.

But suddenly, Yami, Bakura, Lei, and Mazaki all stopped in their tracks and looked up, sensing some kind of strange power.

“Magic,” Yami announced, just as darts whizzed through the air and struck him and Bakura in the chest. They collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

“Other Me!” Yuugi cried out, just as two more shot through the air, aimed at Lei and Mazaki. 

They instantly erected their magical shields, which both blocked and broke the darts. Eyes trained on the sky, they watched as tiny black spots in the sky became the mysterious black angels that Anzu had described. They were glowing with energy, signaling their power.

“Shield!” Lei yelled, waving her arm in a semicircle. The Band glowed on her arm as she held her hand in the air.

“Shield!” Mazaki echoed, arm soaring. A purple shield crackled into life around the group, just as magical bolts rained down from the two angels.

“It’s no use, little Earthlings!” a high-pitched voice screeched, and another rain of sparks fell upon the barrier, its magic sizzling as Lei and Mazaki struggled to keep it intact. “Surrender! You’re wasting your energy here… Hand over the Regalia and the pure ones…”

As the creatures loomed closer, Yuugi saw that they were tall beings with pale skin and what looked like human faces, cloaked by black hoods. Black, feathery wings sprouted from their back, allowing them to glide smoothly through the air. Peculiarly, one of them carried what appeared to be a blonde doll, from which mirthful laughter was issuing.

“What _are_ those things?” Honda exclaimed as Yuugi shook Yami to wake him up—to no avail.

“Lei-sama…” Renn said, taking Lei’s shaking hand in her own. “You can do it!”

Startled, Lei’s concentration broke for a moment, but she squeezed Renn’s hand and resumed maintaining the shield, the burden physically heavier than before but mentally lighter with her reincarnation’s support.

“What do you want from us?” Yuugi shouted, cradling Yami in his arms. Ryou stood beside Bakura’s body protectively, as if uncertain as to what would be acceptable for him to do. Anzu stood resolutely at Mazaki’s side, Honda beside her.

“Your souls!” shouted the other angel, a male.

“The Regalia,” the female shrieked.

“You’re getting neither without a fight,” Mazaki replied through exhausted pants.

“We can do this all day, little ones,” the doll sang. “Our power is limitless!” She muttered something, and the intensity of the sparks increased. With the new rain of magic, Lei faltered, and the male angel took advantage of the gaping hole to tranquilize her with his dart-gun.

As she collapsed to the ground, Mazaki and Renn shouted her name at the same time. Distressed, Mazaki lost her focus and dropped the shield completely. She screamed as the Amulet burned on her chest, but she was overshadowed by Yuugi, Honda, Anzu, Ryou, and Renn screaming as they were pelted by red-hot magical energy. Although they tried to run from the shower of sparks, their feet were no match for the angels’ wings.

Renn’s feet slapped the dirt loudly as she tried to run as fast as she could, but it still wasn’t fast enough—one of the winged creatures swooped down and grabbed her. Shrieking shrilly, she attempted to wrench herself free from its vice grip, but the creature’s arms were like rocks holding her down and smashing her ribs.

“Renn-san!” Ryou and Anzu shouted from the ground.

Her captor chuckled from above her. “Stop fidgeting. You won’t escape.” With that, he clenched her tighter, swooped in the other direction, and flapped his wings, heading for Pegasus’s castle.

Back on the ground, the rain of sparks had ended, but the female angel was flying around them in circles, eyeing them hungrily.

“Who—what—are you?” Anzu demanded, head dizzy from following the flying creature. She was supporting Mazaki, who was worn out from the stress of utilizing the power of the Amulet.

“We are the Winged Knights, from the world of Callias. I am Celestine, your Game Master.”

“Game Master?” Yuugi repeated.

“Yes!” she crowed, the doll’s arms rising as the ground rumbled beneath their feet. “Let’s play.”

The world disappeared around them.

*

The sun climbed higher and higher and higher in the sky, its rays reflecting off of the newly-polished glass of a wine glass. Pale, elegant fingers held the cup lightly, their owner admiring the way the sunlight coursed through the burgundy liquid. The other hand of the silver-haired man held a comic book, colored by illustrations of a cartoon rabbit.

He chuckled at the antics of his favorite comic book character, but his mirth was interrupted by the sound of flapping wings.

“Ah, Pann’s here,” he said to himself, as the winged creature landed on the balcony, an unconscious, red-headed girl in his arms.

“I captured the other brat, too, but when I tried sapping his energy, he fought back and jumped off. I don’t know if he’s still alive or not, but I suspect not, for I was rather high off the ground.”

Pegasus gestured vaguely in the air before taking Shizuka in his arms. “It’s no big deal. This child will do quite nicely. Well done, Pann. Thank you.”

Pann bowed deeply. “At your service, my lord.”

“Your next task is to inform your darling sister—she is on watch at the moment—that she must capture Yuugi’s other self and bring him to me. I have some business with the two of them…”

Nodding and bowing once again, Pann spread his wings and jumped off of the balcony. He flew upwards, the goal of his journey the highest tower of the castle.

Pegasus smiled down at the soft body in his arms, imagining that it was Cyndia that he was holding so tenderly. “Soon, my love,” he said quietly, shifting Shizuka in his arms before placing her on a large, spacious sofa that he hardly ever used.

A small smirk crossed his face at his first success – “So it has begun.”

  


* * *

  


#### 11: Unlikely Partners

Pann found his sister at the top of the castle, shuffling through her Duel Monsters deck in boredom.

“Mikaa!” he called, surprising her. She tucked her deck into the back pocket of her pants and crossed her arms, facing him.

“What the hell do you want?”

“Tsk, tsk, darling. What a rude way to greet your brother,” he reprimanded. She rolled her eyes. “Master Pegasus instructed you to bring him Mutou Yuugi’s other self.”

“The one with the fire hair?”

“Yes, Master apparently has some unresolved business with him.”

“Hmm, interesting. All right, should be easy enough. See you around, _Onii-san_ ,” she said, stretching her wings.

“Not so fast,” he said, grabbing her arm. She twisted and wrenched it out of his grasp, eyes flashing.

“What the hell?”

“I’m coming with you,” he said, smirking. Mockingly, he said, “You know, just to make sure my baby sister doesn’t die fighting. Yuugi’s other self is the spirit of a king, did you know that?”

Mikaa rolled her eyes again, face twisting with distaste. “I’ve fought much greater things than a mere spirit king, _Onii-san_. I have fought _armies_.”

“This is not physical combat, little one,” Pann reminded her, eyebrow raised. It was always so fun to get a rise out of his temperamental sister; he didn’t think that he would ever tire of it.

“I’m not weak,” she spat. His eyebrow rose higher.

“I never said you were. But you do realize that you can’t use your precious weapons in this situation. Pegasus’s war is all about magic and games, and I’m sorry, but you’ve never particularly excelled at either.”

“Don’t presume to know me,” she hissed. “I am Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful nation on the continent, and I can do _anything_.”

He laughed, clapping mockingly. “Anyone can flash titles around, dear. I am High Advisor to the king of the most powerful nation on the continent. What does that mean? Nothing. Not until I prove myself.”

Mikaa scowled, spreading her wings for flight. “I refuse to listen to your nonsense anymore. Goodbye, _Onii-san_.” She leapt into the air and flew south.

Chuckling, Pann rose in the air, following her at a distance. “Oh, you’re just so much fun, Mikaa.”

*

Although Jounouchi’s body was protesting its abuse, he continued running after Kaiba for a long time. At last, Kaiba slowed down to a fast walk, and Jounouchi caught up with him.

“Stop following me, loser,” Kaiba said without sparing a glance at him. Jounouchi scowled.

“It took my sister, too,” he shot back.

“Hrmph,” Kaiba said, still showing no sign of exhaustion other than his now slower pace. The man must truly be a robot, Jounouchi decided.

“Let’s take a break, Kaiba,” he said, knowing that he couldn’t go on for long, especially since he hadn’t had anything to eat for what felt like hours. Kaiba snorted.

“You can take a break. Nobody’s stopping you. I’m not resting until I find Mokuba.”

Jounouchi sighed and continued trudging along, knowing that he was better off following Kaiba than being angered by him and forging his own path. He shuddered, not wanting to be alone anywhere on this creepy island.

At last, Kaiba’s exhaustion seemed to catch up with him, his footsteps slowing down exponentially. Through his own fatigue, Jounouchi felt a shred of pity for the other boy, understanding his determination to save his brother but also aware of the fact that he wouldn’t be able to think clearly if he didn’t get some rest.

“C’mon, Kaiba. You’re exhausted.”

“I’m fine,” Kaiba mumbled, but Jounouchi knew that he wasn’t, because he had actually replied, instead of brushing him off.

“Look, I want to save Shizuka as much as you want to save Mokuba, but neither of us are going to get anywhere if we don’t get some rest so that we can actually think straight when it comes to the saving part.”

“I will not rest until he’s safe,” Kaiba said, straightening up and pushing his shoulders back.

Jounouchi sighed in both exasperation and exhaustion. “Be realistic. You’re going to hurt yourself if you don’t get some rest.”

Kaiba stopped, slouching against a tree. Jounouchi sat down on the other side of the large, protruding root next to him. “Don’t harbor any concern for me,” Kaiba sneered. “I’m not one of your little friends.”

“I’m not treating you like one; I’m just treating you like a human being, Kaiba. Eesh, do you have to be so suspicious of everyone?”

“When everything I do gets me into situations like these ones, in which my brother is put in danger, I believe that I do have the right to a certain amount of paranoia,” Kaiba replied, sitting down as well and closing his eyes.

Jounouchi frowned, admitting that the guy had a point. Mokuba always seemed to be the easy target for anyone who wanted to get a rise out of Kaiba. Poor kid; he was decent, too, although his immense worship-complex of his brother could be disturbing at times. Jounouchi nodded, glancing at Kaiba one last time before closing his own eyes.

“Go to sleep, Kaiba,” he muttered. But Kaiba was already fast asleep and on the way to dreamland.

*

Bakura groaned as he regained consciousness, his body aching all over.

“What the hell…” he muttered. Slowly sitting up, he put a hand to his head and looked around, spotting the Pharaoh lying unconscious a couple of feet away. He cackled. “Well, well, well, look what we have here.” He crept over to the body, slipping his knife into his palm. Leaning over the tan face, he thought vaguely that the Pharaoh looked much less hateful when he was asleep.

During his moment of hesitation, Yami shifted and opened his eyes. Startled by Bakura’s proximity, he yelled and pushed him away before scrambling backwards. But then, the ache of forcing his muscles to move made itself known, and he shouted in pain. Bakura laughed at him, despite his own discomfort at landing on the ground harshly (the Pharaoh was stronger than he looked!).

Yami glared, rubbing his bottom. “Were you trying to steal the Millennium Puzzle?” he accused, hand protectively on said Millennium Item.

“Of course not,” Bakura smirked, hiding his knife back in his jacket. “Why ever would I do such a thing?” Yami continued to glare at him suspiciously, but Bakura returned his stare with an arched eyebrow.

At last, Yami sighed and crossed his legs, head in his hands. “Why does my head hurt so badly? And my legs and arms and back and stomach…” he mumbled.

“They shot us,” Bakura said, flumping over on the ground, face in his arms, “with some sort of dart.”

At his words, Yami’s head suddenly shot up, resulting in his wincing at the pain. “Oh no, Partner! Those flying creatures must have captured him and the others. I have to save him!”

Bakura snorted, rolling his eyes. “You can barely move without hurting yourself. How do you expect to walk, much less save anything?”

“Easy for you to say; you couldn’t care less about the other Bakura,” Yami scoffed.

“I care about his well-being to some extent. He is a good, obedient host, you see? Much more cooperative than some other vessels I’ve inhabited.”

“That’s disgusting, talking about a human being like that,” Yami growled. “Bakura is a very kind boy who doesn’t deserve to be treated like trash by the likes of you.”

Bakura chuckled, rolling over. “Your morals amuse me, Pharaoh. But the fact remains that you’re in no condition to embark on a search-and-rescue mission. In fact, I’ll strike you a deal. Stay and rest, and I’ll help you save your precious little partner.”

Narrowing his eyes, Yami said, “What’s the catch? I’m not handing over my Millennium Puzzle.”

“Then play a Shadow Game with me,” Bakura said lazily, closing his eyes and laying his hands on his stomach. Yami didn’t say anything for a while, but he appeared to be considering the deal. On one hand, Bakura was a disagreeable nuisance who seemed to be out to get him. On the other hand, another person could come in handy in a tight situation, and Bakura had the powers of the Millennium Ring. He wondered how likely it was that the Thief would murder him in his sleep. But he also felt that it would be irresponsible to let Bakura wander the island by himself. Who knew what kind of problems he could cause…

Bakura was drifting off to sleep when a voice interrupted his peace. “All right.”

“Hmm?” he blinked up at Yami, whose brow was furrowed. He looked doubtful of himself, but Bakura grinned.

“Good Pharaoh. You’ve made a smart choice.”

“Don’t let me regret it,” Yami snapped. Bakura chuckled, turning on his side and shutting his eyes again.

“Get some rest, Pharaoh.”

Yami lay down but couldn’t fall asleep. He hoped desperately that Yuugi was okay.

  


* * *

  


#### 12: A Rescue Mission

This island was very strange, Mokuba decided as he trudged through a swamp in the middle of the forest. It was covered in a random array of biomes, but there were no animals in sight. He sighed as he steadied himself after slipping on some mud. His body was aching for rest, but his mind refused to allow him any.

On the way to Pegasus’s castle, the strange winged creature had said some strange words and then seemed to literally suck the life force out of Jounouchi’s sister with his fingers. He had licked his lips and moved to do the same to Mokuba, but he had been too fast for him, biting his hand, pinching his underarm, kicking his stomach, and jumping off into what looked like a large bed of grass. Praying that his brother’s skill of leaping and landing from helicopters was genetic, he had whizzed through the air, eyes wide open. He landed perfectly on his feet for a second before stumbling and hurting his ankle, which was now swollen painfully.

As he rested and munched on a granola bar he had put his backpack—from the rations from the airplane—he had debated whether to attempt to find his way back to the campsite or to continue going to Pegasus’s castle to see what he could do to help rescue Shizuka. He felt horribly guilty for having escaped while the girl remained in the winged creature’s captivity. Soon, she would probably be delivered to Pegasus, who might take her soul, like he had Mokuba and Kaiba’s before. He wished that he had been able to escape with Shizuka, but she had been unconscious, and he had been so intent on getting away that he hadn’t thought of her.

While he yearned to help her, he also worried about his brother, who was doubtless worrying himself sick. Mokuba sighed. Although he was tempted to return to the campsite, he wasn’t even sure if the group would still be there. They had most likely already started their trek to Pegasus’s castle and were probably heading his way. It would be stupid for him to travel backwards; the smartest thing to do would be to rescue Shizuka and then reunite with his brother and Yuugi, who would most likely be at the castle by then.

Nodding, he had gotten to his feet, cringing, and had begun his journey.

And here he was, slowly trudging through mud and grime. Supporting himself with a large, sturdy branch, he sighed at his slow progress. He hoped that Shizuka was okay.

An hour passed before he stumbled upon a slumbering girl in the midst of trees. Startled by the first sign of life he had seen since escaping from the winged creature, he knelt at her side and peered at her curiously.

She looked vaguely familiar, and he suddenly remembered her as one of Yuugi’s friends. Upon closer inspection, he saw that she wore a thick gold band around her wrist that bore the same emblem that was carved into his Signet Ring.

“Hey… Hey, wake up!” he shook her shoulder, but she didn’t move. He frowned and shook her harder—still no response. How strange…

He was pondering whether or not he should just leave her and continue on his mission when her eyes opened blearily, green shot with gold.

“Ugh,” she groaned, “what happened? Damn, my head hurts.” Rubbing her temples, she blinked and looked at Mokuba, who was crouched next to her. “Who are you?”

“Mokuba,” he said, holding his hand out for her to shake. “You’re Yuugi’s friend, right?”

She blinked in bemusement at his extended hand. “Yuugi? Oh, the Pharaoh’s reincarnation. Er, my reincarnation is his friend. I’m Lei.”

He laughed at her confusion. “You shake it. It’s what you do when you meet people.”

“Weird,” she muttered before taking his hand and letting him shake it up and down. “Oh,” she said, looking at him more closely, “you’re the kid who was kidnapped, yeah?”

He nodded but scowled. “I’m not a kid.”

Lei ignored him. “What happened to the other girl that was with you?”

Mokuba scuffed the ground with his toe, biting his lip and looking down guiltily. “I fought and escaped, but the creature had already knocked her out. I’m afraid that Pegasus is going to take her soul. I want to save her.”

“Take her soul?” Lei repeated. “The things that attacked us—more of these flying things—told us that they wanted our souls. Do you know something about that?”

Shaking his head, Mokuba said, “We’ve encountered Pegasus before, and he took my soul and my brother’s soul. I’m just afraid that he’ll do the same to Shizuka. Nobody deserves that.”

Lei shuddered, rubbing her forehead. “It certainly doesn’t sound pleasant.”

“Hey, where did the rest of them go?” Mokuba wondered.

Lei grimaced. “Like I said, we were attacked. They shot me with some kind of magical dart that knocked me out. And now everything hurts like hell,” she muttered. “I don’t know what happened after that, but I hope that everyone escaped. Somehow, I doubt it, though; I don’t think Mazaki could have maintained the shield without me.”

His eyes wide, Mokuba said, “You mean, Yuugi and everyone could be in trouble right now?”

“Very possibly, yes,” Lei replied dejectedly.

“Oh no, I hope _Nii-sama_ is okay…” Mokuba murmured, suddenly ten times more worried than he was before. “Do you want to come with me? I could use your help.”

“Where are you going?”

“On a rescue mission,” he said matter-of-factly. “I have to save Shizuka, and then I want to talk to Pegasus and ask him what he’s planning so that we can stop him. I won’t let him use us like little pawns in his sick game.”

Lei’s lips turned the slightest bit upward. “I like your spirit, kid. I think I will accompany you. I want…” She hesitated. “I want to save my Renn,” she said quietly, remembering the sturdy grip of her host’s hand in hers as she cheered her on.

“All right!” Mokuba grinned, wincing as he accidentally put weight on his injured ankle. “But first, let’s take a break,” he sighed. Then, he pulled up the left leg of his pants, scowling at the swollen ankle. At the sight of the injury, Lei made a soft sound of sympathy and leaned closer to look at it.

“Too bad Mazaki isn’t here,” she murmured. “You could really use the Amulet…”

“The Amulet?” Mokuba repeated. “Is that the Regalia item that Anzu has?”

Lei nodded. “It has healing properties. It would come in handy right now.”

“So you know about the Regalia?” Mokuba questioned. He thrust his Signet Ring at her. “What does this do?”

“The Signet Ring of Promise,” Lei said, peering at it. “It binds promises and oaths so that they cannot be broken.”

“Neat,” Mokuba said, pulling it back and grinning at it. 

“All pieces of the Regalia also have the power to produce a shield that will protect you from physical and magical assault, to some degree. It is possible to shield others as well, but I wouldn’t advise that you do so until after you have more practice with magic.”

Mokuba nodded. “That makes sense. How do I make the shield?”

“Just concentrate on protecting yourself and will the magic out of your system, through your fingertips. Like so.” She took a deep breath and a weak magical shield fizzled to life around her. She frowned. “Never mind that; that was weak. I’m low on my magical reserves from that battle.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, fists clenched. There was a surge of magic in the air, and then nothing. He opened his eyes and frowned, disappointed.

“It didn’t work.”

“It did, you just didn’t release the energy. You felt that magic rising within you, right?” He nodded. “You have to hold onto it and then release it after it builds up. Will the shield into existence around you. If it helps any, say ‘Shield’ as a command to help you focus your energy.”

Clenching his eyes shut again, he sat in silence for two seconds before shouting “Shield!” A shield appeared around him, faint but still visible. His eyes shot open, and he grinned at the shield, causing him to lose his concentration. The magical barrier faded away.

“Focus is the main secret of mastering magic,” Lei explained. “Once you lose it, you lose your connection with your magical reserves.”

He nodded again. “I’m going to perfect it,” he said firmly. Lei chuckled, closing her eyes again.

“Good. But don’t tire yourself out, or you won’t have the energy to do anything when the time comes. I’m going to go to sleep, if you don’t mind. My body feels like it was stabbed by a thousand pins. We can set off for your friend soon, but you look like you need some rest as well.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, laying down a few feet away from her. Although he twisted and turned for a while, unaccustomed to sleeping on such a hard and unforgiving surface, he eventually drifted off to a tumultuous sleep, filled with shields and his brother and Shizuka and angels.

  


* * *

  


#### 13: Shizuka Awakens

Shizuka awoke slowly, wrinkling her nose at the way her legs were attached to the soft leather couch through sweat. Oddly enough, her body felt limp and powerless. She kept her eyes closed. Whenever she awoke from sleep, she always lay in darkness for a few minutes before opening her eyes: it was her way of reminding herself about how lucky she was that her brother had gotten the money for her operation—otherwise that darkness could be her world.

Just as she was about to open her eyes, she heard two unfamiliar voices begin speaking nearby:

“The pure soul, as instructed, Master Pegasus.”

“Magnificent, Akai. You have been in contact with Shadowcat? What is the status on the others?”

“Yes, sir. Administrator Celestine and I attacked successfully, and I captured this girl. The Administrator has taken five of the others to her Gameboard. Commander Mikaa and Advisor Pann are setting out to capture Yuugi’s other self.”

“Pann? He should be keeping watch. Why is he with Mikaa?”

“Ah, with all due respect, sir, you must understand that Advisor Pann and Commander Mikaa do not get along. The Advisor loves to take advantage of every chance he gets to irritate her.”

“How very childish of him. But that’s fine, I’ll just have to ask you to keep watch until our meeting tonight.”

“My pleasure, Master Pegasus.”

“But before you head up there, would you please take this girl down to the dungeons?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you, Akai. I’ll see you at midnight in the conference room.”

Shizuka lay still as someone swept past her and out the door near her feet. She continued pretending that she was asleep, seeing if she could find out anything else. The last thing she remembered was being captured by the scary angel-creature along with Mokuba, and flying really high in the sky at sunrise. But then her memory went blank—had she been knocked out?

Suddenly, footsteps approached her, and she could sense someone kneel beside her. She found her hair being stroked. Attempting to suppress her alarm, she opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the brightly lit room.

“W-where am I?” she asked, genuinely confused as her now sharp eyes scoured the room, memorizing it for future reference.

“Oh, lovely, you’re awake, child,” the man beside her said. He had long silver hair that fell over half his face, which bore a slightly spacey expression.

“Where am I?” she repeated. “Who are you?”

“My name is Pegasus J. Crawford,” he said, continuing to stroke her hair. “This is my castle.”

“What am I doing here? Where is everyone?”

“You’re here as my guest, child,” he said. “Your friends will join you shortly.” He chuckled lightly.

Oh no, thought Shizuka, _Onii-chan_ must be in trouble. He was probably already worrying himself sick over her when he had other things to concern himself over. She had to do something.

“You’re a quiet child, aren’t you? Would you like to see your room?”

“Room?” she repeated. She had expected to be sent to the dungeons like the other girl that had been brought in. Pegasus smiled and nodded, standing up and holding an arm out to help her up. She accepted it, wincing at the lack of strength in her body; it felt like jelly.

He led her out the door and down several halls and a couple set of stairs. Her brain went dizzy trying to keep track of where they were going. At last, they entered a plain door, marked with a unicorn figurine. The door led to an entire suite, and Shizuka blinked rapidly as she was blinded by bright shades of pink and yellow. Everything appeared to be covered with lace, fairies, and cute animals. It looked like the fantasy of a five-year-old girl.

Pegasus looked at her expectantly, a smile on his face. “Isn’t it pretty?” he said, fingers tracing a unicorn statue near the entrance of the suite. “It’s all yours, my dear.”

“Th-Thank you, Pegasus-san.”

Nodding, he said, “I’ll see you at dinner. I’ll send someone to get you.”

After bowing with a flourish, he left the room and closed the door behind him. Shizuka frowned and explored the suite, which included a sitting room, a bedroom—with the biggest bed she had ever seen—a game room, and a bathroom with an enormous tub. At last, she threw herself onto the bed, hugging a pink, lacy pillow to her chest as tears came to her eyes.

“ _Onii-chan_ , where are you? Why am I here? Why did the other girl get taken to the dungeons but I didn’t? I wonder who she was… Could it have been Anzu-san? Or Renn-san? Who is this Pegasus man and what does he want with me?”

Frustrated at the lack of sense that this entire situation was making, she sighed and hugged the pillow harder.

She’d just have to be brave, for her brother, who might need her help.

  


* * *

  


#### 14: Celestine’s Gameboard

“Welcome to my Gameboard!”

Yuugi blinked as they landed on their feet, in the midst of what looked like a life-sized board game. From the “START” beneath their feet to the colorful squares that formed a winding path around neat white houses, everything looked a thousand times larger than it should be.

“Are you ready to play?”

They looked up at where the voice was coming from and shouted in surprise. Above them sat the blonde doll that had captured them, only she was enormous, towering over the Gameboard. Behind her, the sharp eyes of the woman who held her stared down at them menacingly.

“Where are we?” Honda asked. “What is this place?”

The doll giggled. “It’s my Gameboard, silly.”

“Why are we here?” Anzu demanded. “We need to help Mokuba-kun and Shizuka-chan!”

“Uh uh uh,” Celestine tsked. “Silly Earthlings. I want to play with you!”

Honda and Anzu looked incensed, but Yuugi remained calm: “What do we have to do to return to our bodies?”

She giggled again, the high pitch causing them to wince. “Why, win the game, of course! But don’t worry, nobody’s ever escaped before. They go mad before they can reach the end-square, you see?” she explained enthusiastically.

They shuddered at the thought of being stuck in the game for eternity, but Yuugi regained himself quickly.

“All right, Celestine,” he said. “Game on.”

  


* * *

  


#### 15: An Unexpected Confidant

When Kaiba woke up, he realized two things: one, that his back ached like hell; and two, that there was something—or somebody—on him. Opening his eyes, he found that he was leaning against a tree, which accounted for the back pain. The thing that was pressing against his side was a mop of blond hair. Head clearing, he realized that the messy hair belonged to the loser dog who had insisted on following him. Wrinkling his nose, he was about to shove him off when a thought crossed his mind—pushing him off would most likely result in his waking up, which would result in Kaiba having to deal with the mutt, which was worse than being treated like a human pillow.

Grumbling, he kept the sleeping head where it was. He fumbled through the pockets of his trench coat for one of those snacks that they had procured from the crashed airplane and quickly tore the wrapper of a granola bar open, wolfing it down.

He took out his PDA, but it seemed to be malfunctioning, error messages popping up no matter what function he attempted to use. Pegasus must have wired this island so that nobody could contact the outside world. Kaiba growled, hating the man more by the minute. He sighed. He had to save Mokuba and figure out what was on Pegasus’s agenda this time around. Briefly, he debated leaving the mutt, but then he thought about how he had run desperately after his sister, just as he himself had run after Mokuba. He could respect that: if they shared nothing in common, they shared an undying love for their siblings. Besides, perhaps the loser would come in handy if he needed some way to distract the guards while he rescued Mokuba.

“Hey, wake up,” Kaiba nudged the head that had flopped over onto him, not at all gently. “Loser, wake up. I don’t have all day.” He shook the slumbering body, annoyed.

“What the…” Jounouchi opened his eyes blearily, but Kaiba continued shaking him. “I’m awake, I’m awake! Geez.”

He yawned and stretched before turning to Kaiba—instead coming face-to-face with a granola bar.

“Huh?” he said dumbly.

“Eat,” Kaiba ordered, and Jounouchi took the bar obediently, his stomach growling to be fed. He was touched that Kaiba cared enough to give him food.

When he had finished, they wordlessly got to their feet and continued their trek to Pegasus’s castle.

Stifled by the silence that had settled between them, Jounouchi began filling in the spaces by cursing Pegasus and praying that his sister was safe. Kaiba didn’t say anything, though he glanced at Jounouchi a few times, annoyance clear in his expression.

After an abundance of those cutting glares, Jounouchi stopped talking, stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking quietly whilst staring at his feet. But after a while, the eerie silence started getting on his nerves and he began to eliminate it by talking about his sister and subsequently, his family. Not caring whether or not Kaiba listened, he explained his father’s decline into alcoholism and gambling, the circumstances of his parents’ divorce, the messiness it had left their family in, the jobs that he had taken in order to pay off his father’s debts, how he had entered Duelist Kingdom so that he could earn the money to pay for his sister’s eye operation. It felt good to just talk about it to someone whose opinion of him couldn’t possibly get any worse with the new information. He was often so paranoid about what his friends thought of him that he ended up keeping all of his problems and insecurities to himself, not wanting them to realize that he was actually weaker than he pretended to be.

After he finished talking about Shizuka and her operation, Kaiba said stoically, “That was very noble of you. I would have done the same for Mokuba had I been in a similar situation.”

Jounouchi blinked; those were the first words that Kaiba had spoken since he had begun spilling his life story. He hadn’t even been sure that the other boy had been listening at all, content just to talk and fill in the awkward silence between them.

“Yeah,” he said, unsure of himself now that the conversation had turned from one-sided rambling to an actual conversation. “I would do anything for Shizuka.”

They continued in silence, until Kaiba said, “Do you ever see your mother?”

Startled at how Kaiba actually seemed interested in the things he had to say, Jounouchi took a moment to respond. “No,” he said sadly, “she hates me. She thinks that I’m just as bad as my father.”

“Ah,” was all Kaiba said.

“You’re an orphan, right, Kaiba?” Jounouchi ventured, uncertain about how Kaiba would take any prying into his personal life.

“Yes,” Kaiba said simply. 

Encouraged by his actual response, Jounouchi went on to ask, “What happened to your parents?”

Kaiba stiffened almost inconceivably, but Jounouchi could sense his discomfort in his reply: “They died in a car crash,” he said solidly.

“I’m sorry, Kaiba,” Jounouchi said sadly, not knowing what else to say.

“It’s nothing to concern yourself with, mutt.”

They continued in silence. Kaiba didn’t say anything else, but Jounouchi felt privileged to have learned something personal about him.

Maybe Moneybags wasn’t so bad after all.

*

After reporting to Akai, Shadowcat decided it was time to seek a temporary body. Without it, he wouldn’t be able to complete his task.

He found a suitable candidate in the tall, brunette man in the obnoxious white trench coat. His blonde friend called him “Kaiba”.

But before he could take him over, he had to do some research on this Kaiba character’s behaviors and mannerisms. Slipping back into the bushes, Shadowcat continued to follow his prey. Slowly and steadily, sneaky and ready to pounce.


	3. Chapter 3

#### 16: Saving Thief Bakura

Yami awoke for the second time in twenty-four hours, but he felt much more rested this time around. Groaning, he lifted himself up to a sitting position and took in the deserted forest around him. His eyes caught on Bakura, who emerged from behind the trees, his shirt pulled up to hold something against his stomach; what, from his position on the ground, Yami couldn’t tell. But he could see a strip of Bakura’s tan, exposed belly, which fascinated him, for some odd reason.

“I’m fucking starving,” Bakura announced, plopping down next to him. Yami nodded in agreement as he peered at what Bakura was hiding in his makeshift pouch—berries?

Without further ado, Bakura began eating from his meager collection, wolfing the berries down as if they were ambrosia on earth. Yami stared at him.

“Want some?” Bakura said around a full mouth. He took off his jacket and laid it flat on the ground, spilling plump little red berries onto the blue cloth.

“How do you know they’re not poisonous?” Yami said, just as his stomach grumbled. It was a strange, unfamiliar sensation; Yuugi usually kept them quite well-fed. Bakura shrugged, continuing to pop the little red berries into his mouth. Yami frowned in disapproval at the red juice dripping down the side of Bakura’s mouth and smeared all over his fingers.

Despite his misgivings, he picked up a single berry tentatively, examining it closely. Bakura snorted.

“It’s not going to bite you.”

Glaring, Yami put it slowly in his mouth. Instantly, he winced, scrunching his face up before swallowing exaggeratedly.

“It’s so sour!” he exclaimed, making a face. Bakura looked amused at his suffering.

“They’re not that bad, Pharaoh. Eat up. I don’t want to hear you whining about being hungry later.”

Yami sighed as his stomach growled again, begging to be fed. He picked up another berry and ate it, making another face as he swallowed it. “How can you eat this stuff?” he asked in disbelief.

Rolling his eyes, Bakura said, “They’re just berries, _your majesty_. They’re better than nothing. Sorry if this food is nothing compared to what you got at the palace.”

Yami blinked. “I don’t remember… What did I get at the palace?”

Bakura stared at him, brow raised. “You don’t remember? What do you mean you don’t remember?”

“Just what it sounds like,” Yami said, now looking somber as he continued to pick at the berries.

“You’re weird,” Bakura said simply, flopping down on the ground, having had his fill of the wild fruit. Yami didn’t say anything, thinking about his lost memory now. He ate a few more berries to satisfy his stomach, and then he stood up, dusting his pants off.

“We should go now,” he announced. Letting out an exaggerated sigh, Bakura collected the last of the berries and stored them in his jacket before putting it back on.

“Who does he think he is, bossing me around,” Bakura muttered, following Yami with his hands jammed in the pockets of his coat. Yami rolled his eyes but refrained from commenting that Bakura was the one who had wanted to tag along in the first place.

They walked for a long time in silence, Yami’s mind focused on saving Yuugi and Bakura’s mind drifting from Ryou to steak to those winged things that had attacked them to Pegasus to the way the Pharaoh’s pants made his ass look really, really nice.

“I don’t like how quiet this island is,” Yami commented after neither of them had spoken a word for a long time.

“No animals to hunt and eat,” Bakura replied sadly, fiddling with the pointers of the Millennium Ring in boredom.

Soon, they came upon a small stream, but even the running water was almost silent.

Bakura sighed, gazing at the setting sun. “I’m bored, Pharaoh. How long is it going to take to get to the castle? When are we going to take a break?”

“I will not rest until my partner is safe,” Yami said determinedly. Bakura rolled his eyes, resigning himself to trekking to Pegasus’s castle for another long stretch of hours. The Pharaoh had incredible stamina for someone so small, he thought. Just as he opened his mouth to complain, Yami reached out and covered it with his hand. With his other hand, he held his index finger to his lips, signaling for Bakura to be silent. He was clearly listening for something, but Bakura couldn’t care less. Irritated by being ordered around, he bit the hand that was covering his mouth, noticing in the back of his mind that he quite liked the taste of the Pharaoh’s skin. Yami shouted out in pain, wringing the injured hand while fixing Bakura with an angry glare. Bakura just smirked and bared his fang-like incisors.

“Pharaoh?”

Surprised, both spirits whirled around at the vaguely familiar female voice. Yards away, on the other side of the stream, Isis was staring at them with an open mouth. A thermos was in her hand. Malik emerged from the bushes behind her, holding a pile of firewood.

“’Pharaoh’? _Nee-san_ , what are you tal—” He followed her eyes and spotted Yami and Bakura. “Yuugi! Bakura!”

“Malik! Isis!” Yami exclaimed, running across the stream. 

“Hey, Pharaoh, wait up!” Bakura called, scowling as he was abandoned on the bank. Growling, he followed Yami across the water quickly, but he miscalculated and stumbled on an unsteady rock. Flailing his arms stupidly and extending them in front of himself just in time, he fell over but prevented his face from being scratched up. However, he was partially submerged in the clear water of the stream. Coughing the water out of his system, he shook his head, wrinkling his nose as his now wet and dripping white hair tossed droplets of water everywhere.

“Bakura! Are you okay?”

Bakura scowled, ignoring the hand that Yami offered him and rising to his feet by himself. “Do I look like I’m okay?” he grumbled, grimacing as his damp clothes stuck to his skin uncomfortably.

“Come to our campsite,” Malik said, looking slightly amused. “We can start a fire that you can use to dry off.”

They followed Isis and Malik back into the forest, until they reached a small clearing where Mariku lay on the ground, mumbling to himself. But that wasn’t the strangest part—the strangest part was the fact that he was clad in nothing but black boxers and his hair was limp for once, fanning out on the ground around him.

Yami yelped at the sight, and Bakura wrinkled his nose in distaste. Isis looked just as uncomfortable, but Malik merely chuckled, unembarrassed, despite that it was technically his body that Mariku was joyfully displaying to the world. Setting the firewood down on the ground and pulling a pack of matches out of his pocket, he worked on starting a fire.

“Light!” Mariku squealed, turning over and propping himself up with his elbows.

“Hi, Shadow,” Malik replied, concentrating on building the fire.

“Why the hell are you naked?” Bakura suddenly burst out, wincing as he lowered himself down to the ground.

Mariku’s joyful expression twisted into dislike when he looked at Bakura for the first time. “Same reason you’re drenched, probably. You look like a drowned rat.”

Growling, Bakura made to leap at Mariku, but Yami shot him a Look and muttered, “He’s not worth it.”

Despite the tension in the atmosphere, Malik laughed, explaining, “He stumbled on the same rock that you did, Bakura. You should probably strip, too, so that your clothes can dry faster.”

“I’m not getting naked around the likes of you people,” he grumbled. Yami rolled his eyes.

“C’mon, Thief, Malik is right. You don’t want to be stuck in wet clothes all night, do you?”

Bakura sighed; he was starting to hate how the Pharaoh seemed to have a logical opinion on everything. Why did he always have to be so infuriating?

“I’m not stripping,” he said stubbornly, crossing his arms.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Yami responded, frowning. He tugged at Bakura’s jacket. Bakura slapped his hand away and took the overshirt off himself, unceremoniously dumping it in a pile next to the fire, along with his striped t-shirt.

“Happy now?” he grumbled, wrapping his arms around himself and feeling strangely conscientious. His body seemed to have taken form as a strange mix between his strong, built Ancient Egyptian shape and Ryou’s slender, soft figure. It seemed to be changing as time went by, though; for example, the tone of his skin kept darkening. He wondered if his eyes were changing color as well.

He felt a soft fabric wrap itself around his shoulders and recognized it as Yami’s jacket-slash-cape. “There, now you don’t have to be naked ‘around us people’,” Yami assured him teasingly. Bakura wrinkled his nose.

“I don’t need your stupid jacket,” he shot back, but he didn’t push the clothing off. The still-warm fabric caressing his bare skin was a strangely pleasant sensation, even if said fabric belonged to the Pharaoh. Smirking at his victory, Yami sat down next to Bakura, staring into the fire.

“Crackers?” Malik offered them a package that he had taken from his backpack. They accepted the gift gratefully; crackers were much more filling than the berries they had shared earlier in the day.

“What happened to everyone, Pharaoh?” Isis asked somberly, eyes turned a deep green hue in the yellow firelight.

“After you disappeared—wait, where did you go, anyway? We turned around and you were gone.”

Malik shot Mariku an annoyed look. “This genius ran off, so we had to chase him down. By the time we got a hold of him, we had already lost you guys, so we decided to make the journey ourselves. We figured that we would eventually cross paths and join up, anyway. But… I guess that’s not exactly the case. What happened?”

Yami sighed. “We were attacked by two of those flying creatures. They shot the Thief and me with some kind of dart, which knocked us out. I assume they captured everyone else.”

“There are more of those flying things?” Malik said, alarmed. Yami nodded.

“I don’t know if they’re monster or human, but they are definitely the enemy.”

“I wish we knew what they wanted,” Isis said thoughtfully.

“Maybe it has something to do with this,” Mariku chimed in, motioning to the Diadem that rested on his forehead.

“Wait,” Yami interrupted, looking between Malik and his dark personality. “How is it possible that you each have one of those?”

“I wondered the same, Pharaoh,” Isis said. “But I believe that the form of the item is malleable. It can handle being split into multiple pieces. Did the Millennium Items…”

“I don’t know,” Yami said sadly. “I didn’t notice before the attack, and since then Yuugi’s side of our mind-link has been strangely quiet. I’m worried about him and the others.”

“What I do not understand is how this separation of the souls happened in the first place,” she commented, confusion marking her features. “The only source of such powerful spells that I have ever heard of is a book that was kept hidden in the tombs.”

“What book?” Malik said, looking at her curiously. “I didn’t know we guarded a book.”

“No, Malik, you never really concerned yourself with any of our duties,” Isis said sadly. “It was a copy of the Millennium Spellbook,” she explained, her expression darkening. “The most dangerous spellbook in history. It was using that book that the Millennium Items were created. It was said that whoever deciphered the entirety of the book’s text would wield a power matched by none but the gods.”

Bakura paled and shivered. “The book that instructed the creation of the Millennium Items… That is a disgusting book. Abhorrent; it should be burned.”

Isis shook her head. “It cannot be destroyed; the spells that seal it are much too powerful.”

Bakura scoffed and spat on the ground next to Yami’s feet. Sliding his feet away, Yami scrunched his face up in distaste and peered curiously at Bakura’s wrathful face. Why was he suddenly so angry?

“What do you know of this book, Thief? Why is it so disgusting?”

Bakura turned on him, eyes on fire and angrier than Yami had ever seen them. “Shouldn’t _you_ know, _your majesty_? It was due to that book that the Millennium Items were created and your father killed the people of Kul Elna!”

“My…father?” Yami blinked; he had never thought about having a father before—Yuugi hardly ever saw his father, so he didn’t have much reference for what having one would be like. “My father created the Millennium Items?”

“No shit, Pharaoh! Don’t play stupid. He murdered my people just so he could give him and his priests some shiny new toys to elevate themselves even more above their people! Ninety-nine human sacrifices to play with magical items… Disgusting.”

Struck by the accusation, Yami had no idea what to say. Would his father really do such a thing? “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he declared honestly.

“What the hell do you mean you don’t know what I’m talking about?” Bakura cried, inflamed. “Are you an idiot, Pharaoh? I’m sure you remember your father bragging to you about his new Millennium Puzzle!”

“Thief…” Yami said sadly. “I don’t remember anything about Egypt.”

Bakura’s expression changed from deadly to utterly perplexed. “What? What do you mean you don’t remember anything?”

Yami shrugged, melancholy expression settling over his face at the reminder of just how much of a lost soul he was. “I just don’t.”

“It’s true, Bakura,” Isis chimed in calmly. “When the Pharaoh sealed himself in the Millennium Puzzle, he also wiped his own memory so that the seal could never be broken.”

Bakura continued to stare at Yami, mouth agape. Yami sighed. “I told you earlier today. I don’t remember anything. I don’t even know why I sealed myself in the Puzzle.”

Bakura didn’t say anything, staring blankly into the fire. He looked weary. “Well, that certainly changes things,” he murmured to himself, hands playing absently with the pointers of the Millennium Ring.

Yami gave him a wary, uncertain look before turning back to Isis and the problem at hand. “What were you saying about this book?”

“I have a hunch that Pegasus has access to it, somehow. But I cannot comprehend how he would get his hands on such a forbidden artifact, much less be able to translate its text.”

“You called the book in the tombs ‘a copy’,” Malik said thoughtfully. “Do other copies exist in the world?”

“Yes,” Isis said, “three copies total: one in China, one in the southern Americas, and one in Egypt—the three historic capitals of magic.”

“If we got our hands on one of those copies,” Yami suggested, “then could we possibly overpower Pegasus?”

“Yes,” Isis said, though she looked slightly doubtful. “Possibly.”

“Well, that’s it, then isn’t it?” Malik said confidently. “We have to retrieve a copy of the Millennium Spellbook and stop Pegasus. After all, you said that whoever deciphers it would gain godly powers. This must be what Ialu was talking about when he told us that we had to save the world from destruction.”  
  


“Ialu?” Yami interjected. “Who is Ialu?”

“The man in the strange dream who gave us the Regalia,” Malik clarified.

“He also mentioned the balance of forces in the world and the rise of an evil god,” Isis added, eyes looking troubled and anxious.

Bakura felt an unexplainable chill spread through his body at her words, especially that of “an evil god”. Yami looked at him.

“Are you cold, Thief?” He pulled his jacekt over Bakura’s arms. Bakura flushed at the concern, both annoyed at being treated like a child and oddly pleased that the Pharaoh was being so nice.

Shaking his head, he muttered, “I’m fine.”

Returning to the conversation, Yami said, “Malik is right. We should retrieve the Millennium Spellbook and use it to fight Pegasus. I don’t like the sound of this evil god and destruction of the world.”

“But even if we got a hold of it, we would be unable to read it,” Isis countered.

“No, that’s not true,” Malik argued. “You could do it, _Nee-san_. You’ve studied the ancient texts; you’re good at that kind of thing.”

“Me?” Isis said uncertainly. “I don’t know, Malik…”

Malik shook his head, finding himself excited by the turn of events. “I’m sure you could, Nee-san! You’re always going on about destiny… Maybe this is yours.”

Isis mulled this over, realizing that Malik had a good point. “I suppose I could try,” she said slowly.

“Great!” Malik exclaimed.

“But how are we going to get anywhere? The airplane crashed, and we are unable to contact the outside world,” she pointed out.

“I can summon a monster,” Mariku said lazily as he lay on his back, fiddling with his earring.

“See?” Malik said, eyes lighting up. “You said yourself that I owe the Pharaoh, _Nee_ -san. I need to do this.”

“You don’t owe me anything, Malik,” Yami said softly. “But thank you for doing this. Unfortunately, Bakura and I cannot come along; we must save Yuugi and the others.”

Malik nodded in understanding. “You can count on us.”

Yami nodded, smiling. “Mm.”

Smiling at the general elevation of mood, Isis said, “Well, I’m exhausted. I’m going to sleep, now, and I recommend that you all do the same. We have another long day ahead of us tomorrow.” Nodding in agreement, Malik and Yami wished her a good night as she unrolled her sleeping bag. She fell quickly into a deep sleep.

“You’re wrong, Yuugi,” Malik said quietly, breaking the silence. “I do owe you. You liberated me from my past, my darkness, and my ties to the Tombkeepers. Now I can finally live a normal life on the surface.”

Yami bowed his head. “Then I will gladly accept your debt.”

Malik smiled. “Thank you. Good night, Pharaoh.”

“Good night, Malik.”

Yami sat in silence for a long time, staring into the fire and thinking about all that was to come. Destruction of the world? An evil god? The balance of forces? His soul felt uneasy; he was weary of always having to save everyone. When would somebody save him from the loneliness he felt welling at the core of his being? He knew that Yuugi loved him with all of his heart, but ever since the Orichalcos incident, that love had been coupled with a small fear—a fear of his other—no, darker—side’s potential. He would never regret anything else as much as he did losing control in the duel against Raphael, resulting in the loss of the person he cared about more than anything in the world. They were slowly patching up, though, as evidenced by Yuugi’s plea to rest for a month or two before traveling to Egypt in pursuit of his lost memory—a wish that Yami attributed to his partner’s reluctance to let him go.

“Hey, what’s on your mind, Pharaoh?”

Yami snapped out of his daze at Bakura’s sharp voice to find him peering at him with interest. His blue jacket still rested on the other’s shoulders, looking completely out of place on his bigger body, which amused Yami greatly.

“I was just thinking about my partner,” Yami said carefully, not sure if he trusted the sneaky thief enough—or at all!—to confide in him his most intimate thoughts.

“Oh, how boring,” Bakura scoffed. “Do you ever think about anything but your precious little Yuugi?”

Yami responded defensively, “My partner is everything to me.”

Sighing and rolling his eyes, Bakura said, “Yes, yes, I know. But don’t you ever think about becoming your own person, Pharaoh? You constantly define yourself in relation to Yuugi, letting your little friends call you by his name, letting him refer to you as ‘the other me’. So I wonder, Pharaoh, without Yuugi, who are you?”

Startled, Yami didn’t know what to say in response. Finally: “I don’t know who I am, Thief. I told you, I don’t remember anything about who I am or why I’m here.”

“You give up much too easily,” Bakura said. “My memory is filled with gaping holes as well, and I don’t know why I’m here, either. All I know is that I seek revenge and that if I collect the Millennium Items, I can unleash darkness upon a world that allowed the innocent people of the village of Kul Elna to be killed."

“You say you seek revenge, Thief. But on who? Anyone who contributed to the death of your village is long dead.”

Bakura growled, rage filling his eyes again. “You’re still here, aren’t you, Pharaoh?”

Sternly, Yami said, “But I haven’t done anything wrong. Whether or not my father did kill your people has nothing to do with me. Besides, I’m sure he did it for a good reason.”

Bakura snorted. “So righteous and pompous as usual, Pharaoh. Defending people you don’t even remember. You just don’t understand, do you?”

“No, I don’t,” Yami shot back. “Try me.”

“You are of royal descent. I want to see all carriers of royal blood dead. Besides, if I murder you, then our good Pharaoh—your father—suffers, too, you see?”

Yami’s face twisted in disgust, but he didn’t say anything. “Well,” he said finally, “I guess we’ll settle this in that Shadow Game I promised you, when all of this is over.”

Bakura smirked. “Damn straight.”

Yami sighed as a silence settled over them again, both deep in their thoughts now.

Bakura looked at him and thought about what he had said about not having done anything wrong. He had a point, but Bakura just wanted somebody to suffer for all the pain he had gone through, growing up alone and angry, thieving and hiding in ruins, plotting revenge and learning dark magics. He wanted somebody to blame for the pressure the spirits of Kul Elna had put on him; he wanted a scapegoat for all of the mounting anger that had built up over the 3,000 years he had wandered this world. He wanted the Pharaoh to die and his father to suffer—but now that Yami’s amnesia had been revealed to him, he wasn’t quite so sure anymore. Was there a point to killing somebody who couldn’t even remember his family’s transgressions? Were Yami and the Pharaoh even synonymous anymore, if he didn’t remember anything about Egypt?

And more importantly, could Bakura really kill someone who had shown him today that he was willing to treat him with kindness? Could he really kill someone who he was beginning to see in a different light?

Bakura unconsciously wrapped the cape tighter around his bare torso as he began speaking:

“It’s one of the only clear memories I have,” he said softly. “I was only a small child at the time. Without warning one night, the Pharaoh’s soldiers stormed the village, desecrating and setting fire to everything. They chased my villagers down with their weapons, striking them down, men, women, and children alike. There was so much screaming,” he said hollowly, eyes fully turning a hollow purple-gray from Ryou’s warm chestnut brown. “So much blood. I hid behind a doorway and watched as my family and friends were either murdered by royal soldiers or herded into our own temple to be killed for the ceremony to make Millennium Items. At first, I thought that Egypt was being invaded by the neighboring kingdom, but then I saw one of the Pharaoh’s priests ordering the soldiers to not let anyone get away, and I heard my people screaming, ‘Why? Why has the Pharaoh forsaken us? Why are the gods punishing us?’ After that, it’s all blurry.”

“Bakura…” Yami said softly, eyes filled with sorrow as he gazed at the other’s bowed head.

“I don’t want your pity, Pharaoh,” Bakura spat without looking at Yami. He couldn’t bear to let him see him at his weakest, so emotionally shaken. He vaguely registered that the Pharaoh had called him by his name and his emotion-ridden mind decided that it liked it. “I just wanted you to know,” he said finally.

“I’m sorry for the pain that my father has caused you. You’re not as bad of a person as you try to make yourself out to be, Bakura, and I hope that one day, you can let go of the burdens of the past and be who you were meant to be, without all this talk of revenge and murder,” Yami said genuinely, reaching a hand over to tentatively lay it on Bakura’s shoulder. Bakura stared at the hand for a long time; Yami didn’t remove it.

“I hope so, too, Pharaoh,” he whispered.

“Human beings shouldn’t be so enshrouded in darkness, Bakura. Human beings live for hope, for the light of life. I can help you see the light again, if you let me.”

Bakura finally met his eyes, gray and fuchsia colliding, one filled with uncertainty and the other filled with promise. 

“What can you do, Pharaoh…? The spirits of Kul Elna have entrusted me with vengeance; they will not rest until justice is served.”

“Stop living in the past, Bakura. Your people are long gone, and they would be dead by now even if they had not been killed in that massacre. We don’t know why you’re here, but you have the choice to live, now. You can live for your people, for all those children who never had a chance to see the sun rise again. You don’t have to be a creature of darkness anymore.”

Faltering, Bakura said, “It is my duty…” but he sounded uncertain of himself, for once.

Yami took his other hand and placed it on Bakura’s cheek, nudging it gently so that he was facing him directly. “Let me help you, Bakura,” his deep voice strangely husky and seductive.

“Okay,” Bakura said weakly, his throat dry and body heating up at the intimate turn that the serious conversation had taken. He could feel both power and allure radiating from Yami, drawing him in like a fly to honey; he now understood the full extent of the Pharaoh’s power—much of it lay in his power to seduce and weaken even those with the strongest wills. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t escape the siren-like power. But why would he want to escape the comforting feeling of Yami’s warm hands on his shoulder and on his skin, the resplendent fire lighting up his intense fuchsia eyes, the way his fierce voice filled the atmosphere around them enticingly…

Suddenly, without warning, the hand on his cheek moved to his forehead, and Yami said firmly, “Mind Crush!”

Unbearable pain filled Bakura’s system, and he gripped his head, yelling silently in discomfort. Feeling as if his soul were being torn apart and extracted from his body in pieces, he wondered vaguely if the Pharaoh had tricked him, killed him, and sent him to Hell. The bastard!

But then, just as quickly as it had come, the pain ended abruptly, and he found himself on his hands and knees and out of breath. The Pharaoh sat a mere foot away from him, arms crossed and eyes watching him steadily.

“You bastard!” he hissed, one hand working to draw out the dagger hidden in his coat.

The Pharaoh didn’t flinch. “Do you feel better now, Bakura?” he asked serenely.

Bakura blinked, and in his moment of hesitation, realized that his entire being felt significantly lighter. His heart didn’t feel so unbearably heavy anymore, and when he tried to summon the anger he felt towards the Pharaoh once more, it didn’t flood his system like it usually did. Instead, he was filled with indignation about the restless souls of Kul Elna and anger that they were the ones who had been chosen to be sacrificed for the Pharaoh’s higher purposes. Amazed, he examined his hands and the rest of his body, somehow feeling much more in control of himself.

“What did you do?” he said softly, turning to look at Yami.

“I banished the immense darkness that resided in your mind,” he explained, looking pleased with himself. “Now you no longer have to linger in the shadows.”

Bakura returned to a sitting position, head bowed once more. “Thank you, Pharaoh.”

“Look at me, Bakura,” Yami said seriously. He did.

“I believe that you are more than just a thief and a stealer of souls. You are strong-willed and powerful, and you have the capacity to live a great life. Don’t let me down,” he said; Bakura couldn’t decipher whether he meant what he said as encouragement or warning. Despite his bemusement, he nodded.

“Goo—” Yami suddenly clenched his stomach, rising to his feet and running away.

Bewildered, Bakura followed him, suddenly acutely aware of the discomfort in his own stomach that had been brewing since evening had fallen.

“Pharaoh?” he called as Yami disappeared into the trees. “Oh.” He stopped and blinked at the sight of the other spirit vomiting, on his hands and knees, with his head bent. His stomach decided that it didn’t like the sight of churned berries and crackers coming out of Yami’s system; and so it rumbled loudly, unpleased.

Bakura barely had time to kneel when he had eaten throughout the day came back up from his stomach and out of his mouth. He spluttered in disgust as vomit spilled over the forest floor. He coughed madly, pounding his chest. When his coughing fit ended, he glanced over at Yami, who was shaking with laughter.

“I hate you,” Yami said between laughs. “You and those stupid berries… I told you they were poisonous!”

Bakura rolled his eyes and found himself chuckling as well. “It’s not my fault your system couldn’t handle it!”

“What! Me! What about you?” Yami exclaimed, motioning to Bakura’s own mess.

Bakura wiped his mouth on a sleeve of Yami’s jacket and crossed his arms. “I blame it on my host’s weak body. But at least I don’t look green! You look like an extraterrestrial creature, Pharaoh.”

Yami burst out into laughter, and surprising himself, Bakura joined him, starting with a twitching grin and escalating into actual, non-sadistic laughing—something he hadn’t done since he had been very young. The situation was pretty funny, in a way: two spirits had just received their own bodies, had a world to save, and were instead in the midst of a mysterious forest, throwing up stupid little berries that hadn’t even tasted that great in the first place. They laughed for a good few minutes before calming down and taking deep breaths. But then they made eye contact again and fell into laughter once more, not even sure what they were even laughing about anymore. Bakura’s heart felt lighter than he remembered it ever being, and Yami could felt some of his loneliness dissipate. Still chuckling, they walked back to the campsite together.

“You’re not so bad, Pharaoh,” Bakura said, as he lay down next to the fire.

Yami laughed, the dying flames and the dark night making his eyes glow the color of blood.

“You’re not so bad, either, Bakura,” he said as he extinguished the fire, and Bakura felt an unfamiliar warmness and satisfaction settle over his heart. “Good night.”

“Mmm,” Bakura murmured, closing his eyes as he drifted off to a blissful sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Trigger warning:** There is mention of torture and sexual assault in part 24.

#### 17: Dinner with Pegasus

Shizuka had never felt so conscious of the way she held her cup and the way she chewed her food in her life, not even when her mother had taken her to important business dinners. Although she kept her head down as she cut her food carefully, she could feel Pegasus’s sharp eyes watching her every move.

“What’s your name, darling?” he said suddenly, breaking the tense silence that had fallen over the long, fancy dinner table. 

Shizuka looked up and said clearly, “Kawai Shizuka,” before bowing her head again and continuing to chew slowly.

“What a lovely name,” he commented. 

“Thank you,” she said politely. “I like your name, too,” she added, wondering if she could cozy up to him and find out what he was up to.

Pegasus laughed lightly. “It is rather interesting, isn’t it? My parents were always ones for flair. So tell me about yourself, child. How old are you?”

“Twelve,” Shizuka lied.

“Wonderful, wonderful,” Pegasus said. “And what does a twelve-year-old girl like to do in her spare time?”

“I like to draw, sometimes,” Shizuka admitted.

Delighted, Pegasus clapped his hands together joyfully. “Unbelievable! I happen to be an artist, too! I like to paint. Would you like to see some of my work after dinner? I would love to see you draw something.”

“Oh,” Shizuka blushed, “I’m not very good. But yes, I would love to see your paintings.”

After dinner, Pegasus led her to his studio, which was filled with canvases colored with beautiful paintings. 

“Wow, these are beautiful,” Shizuka said, eyes wide at the lifelike quality that each painting took. But then she noticed that a beautiful blonde woman featured in every single painting, whether as the subject of the painting or a small detail. “Who is she?” she asked softly, taking in the woman’s long gold hair and wise blue-gray eyes.

“Cyndia,” Pegasus said softly, “my beloved.”

“What…happened to her?” Shizuka inquired, uncertain as to how to respond to the grief apparent in Pegasus’s tone and the sad expression on his face.

“She died when we were young, soon after we married,” he replied, gazing at a large portrait of Cyndia reading.

“I’m sorry,” Shizuka said sympathetically. This poor man…

“Thank you, child,” Pegasus said, composing himself but unable to erase the sorrowful look in his eyes. “Don’t feel too sorry for me. Soon, I will be reunited with her…”

Shizuka blinked. “Sir? What do you mean?” 

Pegasus waved a hand in the air, shaking his head. “It’s nothing to concern yourself with, child. Now, I’m sure you’re familiar with the card game Duel Monsters?”

“Yes, of course. You invented the game, right?”

“That’s right. I drew all the artwork for it, too. Would you like to see some of the sketches and concept art that I designed for the game?”

“Yes, that sounds wonderful,” she said, eyes narrowing as he turned away. What was he hiding? Why had he changed the subject?

Leading her into an adjoining room, Pegasus showed her a plethora of sketches, figurines, and computer-rendered pictures. She recognized a few of them, like her brother’s beloved Red Eyes Black Dragon and Yuugi’s Kuribou.

“Cool,” she breathed, as she flipped through one of Pegasus’s drawing notebooks. “These are so amazing. How did you think up of all these monsters? There must be thousands!”

He chuckled. “Well, I may have cheated a little. You see, I once took a trip to Egypt…”

*

Shizuka returned to her room that night, brimming with new information about both Pegasus and Duel Monsters. She decided that she would continue this façade for as long as she needed to gather the information she needed and to formulate a plan to escape, rescue the girl in the dungeons, and leave the castle in search of her brother.

For the second time that night, she prayed for the strength to do what she needed to help Jounouchi, Yuugi, and the others.

  


* * *

  


#### 18: Pawns

“This will be so much fun!” Celestine the doll exclaimed, clapping its hands together. “All right, Blue, you first, since you seem so eager to play!”

“Blue?” Honda repeated, confused. For the first time, they looked down at their clothes: they were all dressed in plain robes and pointy hats; Yuugi was wearing blue, Anzu yellow, Mazaki red, Honda green, and Ryou purple.

“What do I have to do?” Yuugi asked.

“It’s simple! Just do as I say, and if you reach the end-square, then you win! But that’s not very likely, so don’t even bother thinking about it.” With a mischievous smile, she rolled the die, which landed on six. “Go ahead, little Earthling.”

Yuugi took several steps forward, landing on a square six spots away from the start. It was yellow, with a staff on it. Celestine drew a card from a pile presumably behind the large house that Yuugi couldn’t see past. “Rookie Staff,” she read, “+200 points. Not bad for your first turn, Blue. I’m impressed!” Yuugi blinked as a small staff appeared in his hand. “Green, you’re next.”

She rolled the die. “Two.” Honda marched to the designated square, looking expectantly up at her. “Oh, how boring,” she said sadly. “That’s the end of your turn. Now this is for you, Purple. Four.”

Ryou moved four spaces forward as instructed, landing on a magenta-colored square with a sword on it. The moment he stepped foot on it, it began to glow faintly. Something began to emerge from the space in front of him.

“Blue Ninja?” Yuugi exclaimed, recognizing the Duel Monster.

(Ryou: 100 / Blue Ninja: 300)

The monster raised its scythe and sliced Ryou in half.

“Bakura-kun!” the group cried. But Ryou reappeared on the start space, fully intact. He was wincing in pain and holding his stomach, though.

“The pain feels so real,” he mumbled. Anzu helped him stand up.

“Bakura-kun, are you okay?” Yuugi called from his space, making as if to move towards him to see if he was all right.

Celestine tsked as Yuugi yelped at the electricity that jolted him when he tried to leave his space. “No can do, little Blue,” she said in a singsong voice. “You have to play by the rules.” Yuugi growled, shooting Celestine a glare before turning his eyes back to Ryou.

“Bakura-kun?” he repeated, worried.

“I’m fine, Yuugi-kun,” Ryou said, standing up straight again and thanking Anzu. “Don’t worry about me.”

“Aww, this is so touching!” the doll gushed. “But I’m bored already. Your turn, Yellow!” Anzu moved forward a single square, as directed by the die. It was blue and illustrated with an exclamation point. “Yay, an event!” She drew a card from another pile, reading, “Move forward two spaces. Ooh, you got lucky!” Anzu tentatively walked past Honda and onto the third square.

“Who’s left? Red!” Celestine peered at the board, and her face became perplexed. “Oh, it’s you,” she said unhappily.

Mazaki glared at her. “So you do recognize me. I was beginning to wonder.”

The doll snarled and rolled the die. “Just move your five spaces.”

“Mazaki?” Anzu asked, curious. “You know her?”

Mazaki nodded, continuing to glare at Celestine. Seething, the doll said loudly, “Anyway! Blue, your turn again.”

Yuugi watched as she rolled the die, wondering gloomily if they were going to be stuck in this game forever.

  


* * *

  


#### 19: Status Report

Yami awoke to a heel crushing his stomach; he shouted in pain.

“Wakey, wakey, spirit!” a loud female voice boomed. He sat up, pushing the foot away and rubbing his sore stomach.

“Who are you?”

By this time, the shouting had awoken Bakura, Malik, Mariku, and Isis, who looked perplexed as Yami stood up to face the winged woman.

“Mikaa,” she said, smirking, “one of Master Pegasus’s Winged Knights. I hail from the world of Callias and seek King Zaladin’s Amulet.”

“The Amulet,” Isis murmured.

Anzu, Yami thought.

“For now, though, I’ll just be happy to take you captive, fire-hair!”

Eyes narrowed, Yami growled, “You took my partner, didn’t you?”

Mikaa looked annoyed. “I did no such thing.”

“Then who did?” Yami pried. She rolled her eyes.

“How am I supposed to know? Let’s cut to the chase, Earthling. Come with me quietly and we can avoid all the nonsense that comes with this type of thing.”

“You’re not getting me without a fight,” Yami declared, activating his Duel Disk.

“Fine by me,” Mikaa smirked, gold eyes flashing as she activated her own Duel Disk. “Let’s duel.”

“Not so fast.”

Mikaa whirled around. She knew that voice, and her suspicions were confirmed when she laid her eyes on her irksome brother. “This is _my_ job, _Onii-san_. Just because you’ve already completed your task doesn’t mean you have the right to butt into things that don’t have anything to do with your sleazy self. Now leave,” she ordered furiously.

“Oh, Mikaa, Mikaa, Mikaa,” he said lightly, “when will you learn that I’m not just another one of your soldiers that you can order around?”

“Leave!” Mikaa yelled, losing her temper.

“No,” Pann said childishly, eyebrows raised as if challenging her. He looked over at Yami and the others, smirking. “I know who took your friends.”

“No!” Mikaa shrieked. “ _Onii-san_ , what are you doing? Master will kill you!”

Pann laughed, reminiscent of fingernails on chalkboard. “Master won’t kill me. Master needs me. Anyway, as I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted,” he glared at Mikaa, “your friends were captured by Celestine, a lovely, lovely girl who has in her possession a clever little board game.”

“Shut up!” Mikaa screamed, tackling him. Pann continued laughing.

“Come then, Mikaa. Duel the Game King. I was only trying to save you from humiliation, but if you’re too stubborn… Won’t be my fault if you’re defeated!” he cackled. Mikaa growled, baring her teeth.

  
“I don’t get defeated,” she hissed, grabbing him by the collar and shoving him away before turning to face Yami once more.

“Let’s see how good you really are, Game King,” she challenged.

“If I win, then you lead me to my partner,” Yami responded firmly. “If I lose, then I’ll come with you quietly.”

“Deal,” she smirked, drawing her hand.

“Duel!”

*

(LP – Yami: 3000 / Mikaa: 1900)

“Attack, Dark Blade (1800/1500)!” Mikaa shouted, pointing at Yami’s empty field.

“Open trap!” Yami said, revealing his Mirror Force card. “Mirror Force destroys all of the opponent’s monsters that are in Attack Position,” he explained smugly.

Mikaa growled, declaring that her turn was over.

“Ten minutes until midnight,” Pann said lazily from the sidelines, where he was leaning against a tree and watching the duel with feigned disinterest.

“Shut up,” Mikaa shot at him.

“What’s midnight?” Malik wondered.

“We have to attend that meeting, Mikaa,” Pann said, sounding amused.

“Can’t you see that I’m in the middle of something?”

“You’ll be in the middle of trouble if you miss the meeting. Pegasus won’t take your absence lightly…” he warned.

“ _Onii-san_ …” she hissed, irritated. He shrugged.

“Your life,” he pronounced, before stretching his wings and taking flight towards Pegasus’s castle. Mikaa glanced at his shrinking figure, biting her lip as she struggled between following her brother and continuing the duel—which she was admittedly losing. This spirit was more talented than he looked!

“You can’t just leave in the middle of a duel,” Yami said, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

“I can do whatever I please,” Mikaa shot back, “which includes ending this duel. Goodbye, spirit!” She retrieved her cards, put her deck back into her pocket, and turned off her Duel Disk. “I’ll be back for you, and your little friends, too!” she cackled, as she leapt into the air and flew off.

Fuming, Yami put his cards away as well, gazing at the sky and the two Winged Knights becoming tiny specks in the distance.

“I can’t believe that she just left the duel like that!” he raged, fists clenched. “I need to save my partner!”

“They will be back, Pharaoh,” Isis said solemnly. “We do not even know how many of these Winged Knights there are, or what they are truly capable of. Malik and I need to get that book as soon as possible. We will leave before sunrise tomorrow. But until then, I suggest that we all get some sleep. Today has been much too tumultuous.”

They nodded in agreement, returning to their spots on the grassy forest floor. The others drifted off to sleep, but Yami remained awake for a long time, thinking about Yuugi and praying that he was safe.

*

“Lovely, lovely,” Pegasus smiled at the winged figures standing in his conference room. “How is everyone doing?”

“Splendiferously!” Celestine chirped. “My brand new game pieces are so fun! Can I get back to my dimension now?” Pegasus chuckled.

“Of course, my dear. Thank you for checking in. Remember, just make sure that they don’t escape until I say so.”

Celestine giggled. “I wouldn’t let go of them for anything but the Diadem, Pegasus.” She faded slowly from the table, returning to the Gameboard.

Pegasus turned to Akai. “Anything happen under your watch?”

“No, not at all, Master Pegasus,” he said.

“Good, good. And what is the status on your task, Shadowcat?”

“I have found a host and am currently spying on him and learning his ways. I will take over and travel soon,” the translucent figure said.

“May I ask who this host is?” Pegasus wondered.

“Kaiba,” Shadowcat replied simply. Pegasus’s curious face turned to one of delight. He clapped his hands together.

“Unbelievable! What a powerful body and soul. Wonderful choice, Shadowcat, wonderful.”

Shadowcat bowed, face apathetic as always.

“And Mikaa, how is your task progressing?”

Mikaa looked like she was fighting to remain calm. “I found the other Yuugi and challenged him to a Duel Monsters match. Unfortunately, I had to cut the duel short to attend this meeting.”

“Ah,” Pegasus sighed. “I wish you good luck, my dear. He is indeed a formidable opponent, undefeated in any ordinary duel.”

Mikaa bowed her head. “I will not let you down, Master.”

Pegasus turned to the remaining Winged Knight. “Pann, I hear you abandoned your post. Good Akai here had to take your position. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Chuckling, Pann replied, “Abandoned? I was never assigned a post. Master Pegasus merely instructed me to relieve my sister of her watch.”

Pegasus raised an eyebrow. “You mustn’t disobey me, Pann,” he warned.

“I’ll do what I like,” Pann said smugly.

“ _Onii-san_!” Mikaa hissed. Pann didn’t flinch.

“This simply will not do, my boy,” Pegasus said firmly, shaking his head. He threw his hand out as a red beam shot out of the palm; the jet of magic struck Pann squarely in the chest. As he screamed in pain, his cohorts watched impassively, disgust written on their faces.

“Hmm,” Pegasus said stoically and ended the spell, drawing the magic back into himself. “Do not defy me again, Pann. You will pay for it. Now get to watch and stay there.”

Pann groaned, his clothes singed, his hair falling messily around his face, and his breath coming to him in short, painful pants. Mikaa ran to his side, helping him up from his knees. “ _Onii-san_ , you idiot. I warned you,” she whispered.

Pegasus stood by the doorway, rubbing his temples. “I’ll see you all tomorrow night. Good luck,” he said, bowing briefly as he murmured, “My head…”

“What’s the status on the Regalia?” Mikaa said, still supporting a limp Pann.

“The Girdle and the Diadem are with the companions of Mutou Yuugi’s other half,” Pann said, his voice hoarse from screaming.

“Celestine has both wielders of the Amulet in her custody,” Shadowcat added.

“I delivered to Master Pegasus one half of the Band today,” Akai announced.

Pann’s eyes lit up despite his injuries. “Oh, really. Why didn’t he say so? That could come in handy in collecting the other pieces of the Regalia…”

“I doubt that he would give it to you now,” Shadowcat said disdainfully. “Do not embarrass us again, _High Advisor_. Surely the reason that we are here has not slipped your mind?”

Pann rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, overthrowing King Zaladin and taking over his throne.”

“We will remove you from our coalition if you are not willing to cooperate,” Shadowcat warned, eyes flickering.

Pann chuckled. “No, you won’t. You need me too much. Only I have direct access to the King.”

“Just do your job and don’t cause any more trouble,” Shadowcat spat. “The magnitude of this mission is far beyond your comprehension, child.”

Growling, Pann winced but stood at his full height, glaring down at the translucent spirit. “As I told Master Pegasus—I’ll do what I like, _Agent_ , whether you like it or not.” Displaying a rare show of attitude similar to his sister’s temper tantrums, he stormed out of the room.

Back in the room, three sets of eyebrows rose and incredulous looks were exchanged before the three remaining Knights dispersed, intent on getting some rest.

  


* * *

  


#### 20: Forgiving and Forgetting

When Isis awoke, the sun was emerging from the trees, blue, pink, and yellow streaking across the virgin sky. She sat up, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. A few feet away, Malik sat with his arms on his knees, gazing up at the glowing sky.

“Good morning, Malik,” Isis said softly, watching the sun illuminate her brother’s light eyes. Without taking his eyes off of the sky, he murmured a quiet good morning. Smiling, Isis watched her brother and admired the way he looked so childlike in the sunlight; delight was clear in his countenance. Since they had moved to Japan, he had woken up early each morning to watch the sun rise over the cityscape. She never asked him about it, understanding that the open sky symbolized freedom to Malik—freedom, which he valued more than anything. The blue sky had been the first thing he had seen of the surface world, and he had never forgotten it. “Are you ready for our trip?”

Malik looked at her, touching his Diadem, a habit he had acquired over the past week. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” He sighed, combing out his hair with deft bronze fingers. “Should I wake my shadow up?” he wondered, referring to Mariku.

Isis glanced at the slumbering figure that lay at her brother’s feet. “No, let him sleep for a while longer. I do not wish to anger him.”

“ _Nee-san_ … Are you afraid of him? He seems so different now.”

Isis felt ashamed at the look in Malik’s eyes. She looked away hurriedly. “Yes. I’m sorry, Malik; you may have forgotten, but I can neither forget nor forgive him for the monstrous things he has done to you and to our family.”

Malik’s expression transformed instantly from one of curiosity to one of anger. “I have not forgotten,” he hissed.

“But have you forgiven?” Isis countered, eyes filled with sadness. She rose quickly, mumbling about going to the stream to wash her face.

Malik watched her leave, eyes shifting to Mariku when she disappeared between the trees. He nudged the sleeping body with his foot. “Wake up,” he muttered. Mariku groaned and opened his eyes before shutting them tightly as sunlight assaulted them.

“What do you want,” he groused.

“We have to leave soon,” Malik said. “Don’t you want to eat something before we go?”

Grumbling, Mariku rolled over, placing his head in his arms. “I want to sleep. Leave me alone.”

“Shadow, why are you here?” Malik said suddenly, interrupting Mariku just as he had been about to return to his sleep.

“You tell me; you’re the one who brought us to this tournament.”

“No, I mean, why are you here? Why are you back? We killed you…”

Mariku chuckled darkly, inducing Malik to shiver at the familiar sound that haunted his nightmares. “I am you, Malik,” he said. “Born of darkness, created by you. You can’t destroy darkness; you can’t destroy yourself without killing yourself. I am indestructible, Little One.” Suddenly, he sat up, faced Malik, and drew a sharp nail down the side of the identical face, digging into the smooth skin. “It was silly of you to think that you could be without me.”

“But I… I’m not angry anymore. Why are you still a part of me?”

“So eager to rid of me, hmm?” Mariku threw his head back and laughed madly. “Yes, I am significantly weaker now, without your delicious anger and hate fueling me. But bad feelings don’t go away, little Malik,” he said, licking his other’s cheek. Malik shuddered, unconsciously shifting away. “And neither will I.”

Isis returned, and Malik felt guilt overwhelm him as she raised an eyebrow at Mariku’s proximity and then shook her head and looked away. He caught an ashamed expression in her eyes before she turned her back to search her backpack for something.

“Go wake Yuugi and Bakura up, Shadow,” Malik said, deciding that he needed to be away from his dark personality for a few moments.

“Ooh,” Mariku said eagerly. “Sounds like fun.”

“Without hurting them,” Malik clarified; Mariku pouted in disappointment, crawling over to where Bakura and Yami rested on the forest floor.

“Bossy-Pharaoh! Ugly-Thief!” He prodded them incessantly, intent on waking them up. Straddling Yami’s stomach, he leaned down until his mouth was next to Yami’s ear and yelled, “Good morning!”

Bakura and Yami both yelped, startled awake. Yami cringed and rubbed his ear, glaring up at Mariku, who was laughing and still sitting on him.

“Get off of me,” he ordered.

“Your face, Pharaoh! How delightful.”

Yami rolled his eyes. “Get off of me.”

“Yeah, get off of him, you idiot,” Bakura chastised, groaning as he sat up. Mariku stuck his tongue out at him.

“You’re just jealous because Pharaoh likes me better than you!”

Yami raised his eyebrows, his incredulous expression saying more than any words ever could. Mariku laughed and leapt off of him, settling himself next to Malik again.

“Good morning, Pharaoh. Good morning, Bakura,” Isis greeted, handing them each a pack of crackers. “We will set out soon. You should move quickly as well; I suspect that Mikaa will be back for you soon.”

“I’m not running away,” Yami replied, tilting his chin upwards defiantly. “I’m going to save my partner, and that woman is going to tell me how.”

After they packed their things and Mariku stopped whining about his grumbling stomach, Malik held a hand out to Yami. Yami stared at it, puzzled, but Malik smiled kindly at him.

“For good luck,” he explained. Yami took his hand, smiling back. “Until we meet again, Yuugi.”

“Good luck to you, too. I’m glad to have you on our side this time.”

Malik laughed a little, glancing briefly at Mariku. “I am glad to be on your side… Pharaoh.”

“Legendary Fiend!” Mariku shouted, holding the card up from his deck and harnessing the magic of the Diadem to summon the monster. A large blue fiend with black wings appeared, kneeling with his head bent. Mariku smirked, thrilling in the magic coursing through his veins. “Come now, Pretty-Light,” he beckoned, climbing onto Legendary Fiend’s shoulder. Malik quickly followed and helped Isis up onto the opposite shoulder. “Let’s go,” Mariku hissed, eyes glimmering wildly and the symbol on the Diadem glowing bright violet.

“Goodbye!” Isis and Malik called down to Yami and Bakura; Yami waved back while Bakura watched them depart with his arms crossed, Yami’s cape floating behind him.

Flying high above the island, her brother seated next to her and his terrifying dark personality sitting a mere number of feet away, Isis took in a deep breath, gazed at the sky ahead of them, and prayed.

  


* * *

  


#### 21: Temporary Truce 

“Do you ever get lonely, Kaiba?” Jounouchi wondered, as they returned to their quest after a night of rest. Kaiba glanced at him sharply in surprise. 

Last night, the two had shared a peaceful dinner of granola bars, neither speaking much. Jounouchi had talked like the wind all day, but he had become nearly silent by nightfall, his mind seemingly occupied. Kaiba had made a smart remark about it, but Jounouchi hadn’t responded with his usual indignation, instead telling him that he was worried about Shizuka. Kaiba hadn’t said anymore, thinking about Mokuba as well. This morning, when they had woken up, Jounouchi had been less morose but still not as cheerful as the foolish amateur duelist that Kaiba was accustomed to seeing. He decided that his anxiety for his sister must be affecting him severely, and then he decided that he could care less—even though he could empathize, feeling slightly out of the element because of Mokuba’s mysterious kidnapping. A kidnapping that had been committed without any ransom or terms of release, as Kaiba was accustomed to. It was bizarre and worrisome, to say the least.

“No,” he answered promptly, “I don’t have time to get emotional over stupid things like friends: I have a company to run. And before you suggest anything, the people I work with are all idiots.”

Jounouchi looked at him sadly. “That’s a shame. There’s always time for friends.”

Kaiba snorted. “That’s just the kind of pointless spiel I’d expect from Yuugi, mutt. Don’t waste my time with such nonsense.”

“How about a temporary friendship? Do you have time for that?”

He was met with a raised eyebrow. “Temporary?”

Jounouchi grinned easily, nodding. “Yeah, you know, lasting for a short time?”

“I know what the word means,” Kaiba said in exasperation, rolling his eyes.

“Well,” Jounouchi began, resting his hands on his neck and gazing thoughtfully up at the sky between the trees, “you’re not running a company right now. In fact, right now, all you’re doing is walking. So do you have time for a friend right now?”

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. “Are you trying to befriend me?”

“Well…” Jounouchi’s grin widened. “Just temporarily. Until we get out of this mess and you have to get back to your big fancy company and ‘don’t have time for friends’,” he explained, framing his last words in quotations.

Kaiba gave him another look but didn’t say anything. Jounouchi had already considered his proposal rejected when Kaiba suddenly asked, “And how would I benefit from this temporary alliance?”

Jounouchi blinked. Was he serious? “Uhh…” He hesitated. “You get to laugh at me and call me whatever names you want, and I won’t get mad at you,” he improvised.

Kaiba chuckled—chuckled! “But that takes all the fun out of it,” he replied, his tone strangely alien. Jounouchi stared at him, trying to decode his ever-impassive face. Was the snob actually teasing him? As in, joking? “Try again, mutt.”

“I’ll listen to what you have to say.”

“What if I don’t have anything to say to you?”

Jounouchi frowned. “You can depend on me to help you when you’re in trouble,” he said, thinking of the way that he and Honda had always defended and fought for each other.

“I can get myself out of trouble just fine,” Kaiba retorted. Jounouchi’s frown deepened.

“That’s not true,” he accused. “There have been plenty of occasions where we’ve come to your rescue. And to Mokuba’s, too.”

“Hmph,” Kaiba grunted, disliking the implication that he was incapable. Jounouchi felt bad for ruining the brief, light atmosphere that had settled between them; Kaiba was clearly offended by his accusation. He sighed. The guy really needed to get rid of the stick that was jammed up his ass.

After at least another hour of trudging through the forest, Kaiba suddenly said, “I’ve been considering your proposal, mutt, and I think that accepting it would make for an amusing experiment.”

Jounouchi blinked. “Are you serious?”

Kaiba raised that annoying eyebrow for the hundredth time that day. “Do I look serious?”

“No, you just look like a prick,” Jounouchi grinned, feeling a weight that he wasn’t even aware existed lift itself from his heart. Kaiba would be much easier to deal with without the hostilities, although he didn’t know if there was any escape from his “holier-than-thou” attitude.

Kaiba shook his head at the idiocy of the other, but felt peculiarly grateful that he was not alone in this journey.

*

Shadowcat spent the morning scouring the forest for his victim and his blond friend. At last he found them, within a day’s journey on foot to the castle. 

“Hello, boys.”

They whipped around, eyes searching the area for the source of alarm before landing on the translucent spirit swathed in the black clothing that the Winged Knights customarily wore in addition to a hood. His wings were folded behind him. Jounouchi yelped, hiding behind Kaiba.

“A ghost!” he pointed, voice escalating an octave in fear.

“Who—what are you?” Kaiba said, ignoring Jounouchi quivering behind him.

Shadowcat raised an eyebrow at Jounouchi’s antics. “I am Shadowcat, from the world of Callias.”

“You’re like that winged thingy that took Shizuka and Mokuba!” Jounouchi exclaimed. “Are you guys working for Pegasus or what?”

Nodding, Shadowcat proclaimed, “We are the Winged Knights and have allied ourselves with the Earthling Pegasus to further our goals.”

“Goals?” Kaiba repeated sharply.

“Ah, to usurp our king’s throne, but those matters are none to concern yourself with, Earthling.”

“Are you all ghosts?” Jounouchi asked, apprehension still laced in his voice.

Shadowcat smiled bitterly. “No, my body was lost a long time ago in an, ah, accident. But enough talking,” he declared. “Kaiba, you must come with me.”

“You’re not taking him!” Jounouchi proclaimed, stepping in front of Kaiba with his arms spread wide.

“Really, Earthling?” Shadowcat shuffled through a deck that he had retrieved from his pants, selecting a monster card with delight. “Cosmo Queen! Enter this realm as my servant!”

A dark vortex appeared in front of him, and from it emerged a large purple monster swathed in crimson robes and an enormous yellow headdress. Her eyes glowed red as she hissed, crackling with energy. 

“Attack the insolent sidekick,” he ordered, pointing to Jounouchi. The monster reared and threw itself at the blonde boy, who screamed as the too-real purple hands blazing with energy surrounded his head, suffocating him and zapping him with electricity.

“Jounouchi!” Kaiba shouted, running towards the other boy. Jounouchi collapsed to the ground, holding his head in his hands, blood running down the side of his face.

“No, that will not do,” Shadowcat said, smiling serenely as Cosmo Queen blocked Kaiba’s path, hovering in front of Jounouchi’s prostrated body.

“What do you want?” Kaiba growled, turning to him angrily.

“You, Kaiba, you,” Shadowcat said simply, eyes glowing red as he directed Cosmo Queen to attack Kaiba.

“Not likely. Blue Eyes White Dragon!” Kaiba called, playing the card on his Duel Disk. A blinding light appeared in the sky, and the majestic blue dragon roared, shooting white lightning out of its mouth and destroying Cosmo Queen.

Gripping his chest as his monster’s defeat spurned waves of pain through his ghostly form, Shadowcat murmured, “He can do magic?” in shock at the grand visage of the Blue Eyes that was much, much more than a mere hologram. “But he possesses neither Regalia nor Millennium Item…”

Shadowcat watched as Kaiba ran to Jounouchi and shook him, repeating over and over, “Jounouchi? Jounouchi! Can you hear me? Jounouchi!”

“There’s no use. He’s gone,” Shadowcat said, amused at Kaiba’s persistence.

“What do you mean, ‘gone’?”

“No need to panic; I’ve simply put him to sleep for now. This is between you and me, Kaiba.”

“What do you want?” Kaiba bit out, the Blue Eyes White Dragon hovering at his side.

“You,” Shadowcat said again, muttering under his breath as a ball of magic materialized between his cupped hands. When it heated up, he threw the energy at Kaiba, who called on his dragon to defend him. It shattered with a bestial cry. “It’s no use, Kaiba. If you won’t cooperate, then we’ll just do this the difficult way.” And with that, he charged at Kaiba, chanting rhythmically in some foreign dialect. Kaiba dodged out of the way, but Shadowcat flew right back and entered his body.

Kaiba didn’t go down without a fight. He clawed at his own face and gripped his hair violently, screaming and fighting the intrusion with all his might. But Shadowcat, having gone through the procedure hundreds of times, willed Kaiba’s spirit down and silenced his soul, locking it away in a remote corner of his heart.

Kaiba’s eyes went blank.

“When will anyone learn that disobedience is not the answer?” Shadowcat muttered to himself. He glanced at Jounouchi’s fallen body. “How pathetic,” he pronounced before he too collapsed on the ground, both magical and physical energy spent.

  


* * *

  


#### 22: Sneaky Shizuka

Shizuka followed Pegasus around the massive garden, his words flowing over her as she went over her plan for the hundredth time. This morning, after breakfast, Pegasus had invited her for a morning stroll, but she had declined, pretending that she wanted to go back to her room to play with her toys. Smiling, Pegasus had accepted her answer and had told her that she was free to explore the castle if she wished, as long as she didn’t go on the first floor. Taking advantage of the permission to do what she had been planning to do anyway, she filled her pockets with some sticks from one of the board games. _Onii-chan_ would be prepared for anything, she thought.

She had stepped out into the hall and started exploring, trying every door. Unfortunately, they were all locked—but for a single suite on the opposite side of the hall from her own. Looking both ways surreptitiously, she had entered the room slowly.

“Excuse me, miss?” A maid had stopped in the middle of making the massive bed to peer curiously at the intruder.

“Oh,” Shizuka had said, startled, as her eyes searched the expansive room for anything useful. They caught on the French doors that led to a balcony that overlooked the forest and the beach and took note of the lack of a lock.

“May I help you?” the maid inquired. “Are you lost? I have never seen you around here before…”

“I’m a guest of Pegasus-san,” Shizuka explained. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you.” She shut the door quietly behind her, counting the doors around it to remember its exact location.

Her exploration of the second floor had proved even more worthless—or it had appeared that way, until she had overheard two of Pegasus’s suits speaking as she peered down the stairwell that led to the first floor, which Pegasus had forbidden her to visit.

One voice had been reminding his companion to leave the keys in Pegasus’s office when he was done checking up on the dungeons, instead of keeping them for when he saw “Pegasus-sama”, like he had done the last time. The other had grumbled at being scolded by his peer but had promised that he would. They had ascended the stairs whereupon Shizuka had pretended to be admiring a painting that hung on the hallway near the stairs. She had heard them mumbling about her and questioning who she was but had feigned obliviousness. As soon as they had parted ways—one entering what seemed to be the employers’ lounge and the other heading upstairs to return the keys to Pegasus—Shizuka had dashed down the stairs, small feet pitter-pattering against the marble. She had discovered the door to what must be the prison—the door was made out of steel rather than the wood that all the other doors in the castle were fashioned from—and had tried the door, which was locked.

Remembering the suits’ conversation about the dungeon keys, she had hurried back upstairs to her room, a plot beginning to form in her head.

“Ah, these are my favorite,” Pegasus declared, leaning down to admire a bed of tiger lilies.

Shizuka snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the bright, vivacious flowers, nodding with her hands clasped in front of her.

“Cyndia always said that my taste was too wild, though,” Pegasus mused. “So I planted her some flowers, too. I hope she will enjoy them when…” Leading Shizuka to an adjacent area of the garden, he didn’t finish his thought. Shizuka eyed his back sharply—why did he keep talking about his dead wife as if she wasn’t dead? It was positively creepy. “Daisies were her favorite,” he explained, smiling at a massive bed of the cheerful white flowers.

“They’re beautiful,” Shizuka said, her thoughts floating back to her plan to rescue the prisoner from the dungeons and escape their unfortunate captivity.

Vaguely, she wondered what had happened to Mokuba. Pegasus hadn’t mentioned a single word of him…

  


* * *

  


#### 23: Teamwork

“Ow” was the first thing that popped into Jounouchi’s mind when he returned to consciousness with a massive headache and dried blood on his face; “What the hell?” was the second.

The memory of the strange battle with the ghost hit him, and he sat up slowly, looking everywhere around him. He remembered defending Kaiba and then being attacked by some evil Martian lady, with enormous claw-like hands that had knocked him out. Duel Monsters weren’t supposed to draw blood, though. He shuddered. It had felt too real to be a simulation. He wished that he could dismiss his fear that the monster had been real, but hanging out with Yuugi had taught him that many things that were impossible were could actually be very, very possible.

And where was Kaiba, anyway?

“Kaiba?” he called, looking around again, as if expecting the CEO to pop up behind a tree or bush. “Kaiba?”

Frowning, he tried to remember what had happened in the battle. He faintly remembered Kaiba calling out his name…which was interesting in itself; he wasn’t sure that he’d ever heard Kaiba speak his name before. Perhaps he had taken their “temporary friendship” more seriously than Jounouchi had thought.

He wondered if Kaiba had been able to hold Shadowcat off, or if the attack had been successful. It must have been, if Kaiba had disappeared. While Kaiba was hardly the most magnanimous of men, Jounouchi doubted that he would run off without a word and leave him unconscious and injured, especially after accepting his offer of friendship.

“What the hell happened?” he murmured to himself, holding his head. It hurt like hell, but at least the blood flow seemed to have stopped. He sighed. He knew that he should probably rest, but he didn’t even know how long he had been out for. He needed to rescue Shizuka, head injury be damned. His sister was more important than anything.

And maybe along the way, he could rescue Kaiba, too.

Mind made up, he got to his feet and continued trekking towards Pegasus’s castle, which loomed forebodingly over the edge of the forest. He sighed. Why did they always get stuck in these kinds of horrible situations?

*

Hours later, he stopped for a brief break, rubbing his empty stomach to soothe it.

“God, I’m starving,” he mumbled. “I could eat a cow. Kaiba, where are you and your granola bars when I need them?”

“Jounouchi!” a voice called his name, as if answering his thoughts.

“Kaiba?” Jounouchi looked wildly in every direction, searching for a source of the vaguely familiar voice.

“Yeah, it’s Mokuba!”

Indeed, Mokuba leapt out from the bushes in front of him, the alter ego of that Renn girl right behind him. He ran to Jounouchi in excitement, stopping himself short of hugging the older boy and wincing as if in pain.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” Mokuba said joyfully, leaning to the side to touch his ankle gently.

“Mokuba,” Jounouchi suddenly grabbed the younger boy’s shoulders urgently. “Where’s Shizuka?”

Mokuba blinked. “I don’t know exactly, but I bet she’s in the castle.”

“What? Why don’t you know? Weren’t you with her? Did you leave her?” He grabbed Mokuba’s collar and lifted him off the ground, shaking him. “You bastard, how could you?”

“Jou—nou—chi!” Mokuba choked, gasping for breath.

“Let the boy go,” another voice ordered. Jounouchi whipped around, glaring at the Other Renn. She raised a challenging eyebrow as Mokuba squirmed, swatting his hands at Jounouchi. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”

“He abandoned Shizuka!” he hissed.

[[Let him explain,]] a soothing voice reverberated in his head. Jounouchi blinked rapidly in confusion.

“The Ring, Mokuba,” she said aloud, the band glowing faintly. Mokuba closed his eyes and bit his lip, and within seconds, a forcefield formed briefly around him, weak but possessing enough strength to repel Jounouchi’s hand and push them both to the ground. Mokuba winced as he shifted his weight off of his injured leg.

“I escaped midflight. That’s how I hurt this,” he explained, coughing and motioning to his leg. “I’m on the way to rescue Shizuka, too. Jeez, Jounouchi. Way to be an idiot.”

“But why didn’t you take her with you?”

Mokuba frowned. “The big winged thing had done something to her, like draining her of her energy. So I couldn’t take her with me.”

Jounouchi clenched his fists. “Pegasus is going to pay for this,” he growled.

“Wait, Jounouchi,” Mokuba interrupted. “Do you know where _Nii-sama_ is?”

A guilty expression came across the blond’s face. “I was with him until earlier today. We were getting along and everything, and he even promised that we could be temporary friends…”

“’Temporary friends?’” Mokuba repeated, confused.

“Never mind. Anyway, we were attacked by this ghost winged thing called Shadowcat, who summoned a Duel Monster—a real one—and it got me pretty bad,” Jounouchi said, motioning to the slowly healing gash on the side of his head and the leftover blood that he couldn’t seem to scratch off without hurting himself. “He was talking about needing Kaiba or summut, but the next thing I knew, I was out like a light. And when I woke up, both your brother and the dirty bastard were gone.”

“Oh, _Nii-sama_ …” Mokuba murmured, eyes filled with worry. “Jounouchi… Lei and I will help you rescue Shizuka, but you have to help us save _Nii-sama_ and Renn in return.”

Jounouchi nodded. “Fair enough. I’m worried about Moneybags, too, kid,” he admitted.

“All right,” Lei said, interrupting and getting down to business. “Now what we need is a plan to break into the castle and confront Pegasus.”

  


* * *

  


#### 24: Celestine & Mazaki

Honda (900) was halfway across the board, with Ryou right behind him (1100). Anzu (400) was still only a few spaces away from the start, Mazaki (600) was farther than her but not as far as Honda, and Yuugi (1800) had already passed three-quarters of the spaces.

Rolling the die for the hundredth time, Celestine smiled sinisterly down at her game pieces. How dearly she loved them!

Anzu stepped forward one space as instructed and held her breath as Celestine drew an Event Card. “Engage in battle with the closest player. Give the opponent 300 extra points.” She smirked as the sword Mazaki wielded increased in size, its design also becoming more elaborate. “Go ahead, _Mazaki_ , slice and dice your helpless little soul-partner!”

Mazaki glared darkly up at the doll. “Stop messing with us, Celestine,” she hissed, throwing her sword down and ignoring the electric shock that reverberated through her body in consequence. The weapon clattered noisily onto the space. “I’m tired of playing your game. I quit.” With that, she shielded and walked through the barrier of electricity that prevented her from leaving her space. 

“Get back on your space,” a new voice ordered. Everyone looked around to see where it had come from, their eyes falling on the woman who held Celestine the Doll. Her eyes were glowing a violent red.

Without another word, Mazaki returned to her space and picked up the dropped sword, though her eerily blank stare revealed that she did not do so of her own accord.

“Good,” Celestine the Doll said in satisfaction. “Now play the game correctly.”

“Mazaki?” Anzu called, anxious. “Are you okay?”

Mazaki didn’t reply, instead charging at her with her sword and punching it straight through her body. Anzu cried out in pain as she was transported back to the START space.

Mazaki’s eyes cleared.

“I’m sorry,” she called to Anzu. “That wasn’t me…”

Anzu nodded weakly, feeling battered from losing the game so badly. “I know.”

Celestine cackled. “Disobey me again, and I’ll destroy your little soul-twin,” she warned. Mazaki bit her lip, suppressing her anger and hatred. “You know what I’m capable of. Do not test my limits, Mazaki.”

“What is she talking about?” wondered Ryou. Yuugi nodded in agreement, looking at Mazaki for answers.

“In her home world, Celestine is her country’s Administrator of Justice,” Mazaki said quietly but firmly. In laymen’s terms, she is the Warden of the Royal Prisons and essentially oversees all torture that takes place there.”

Honda shuddered. “What a wonderful job.”

“She delights in it,” Mazaki said coldly. “I was sent to the prisons for a royal offense so I got to experience her in action at firsthand…in more ways than one.”

“Oh, you’re not even telling the entire story!” Celestine squeaked. “Let me, let me!” Without pause, she launched into a telling of their story.

“When I was an adolescent, my family was captured by invaders. They were tortured and killed before my eyes. Both the physical and mental torture were so agonizing that my soul separated into two tangible parts—the innocent child I had been and my new, scarred, older self.

“And they couldn’t kill me.” She laughed. “My hatred infused me with so much power that they couldn’t kill me. So I killed my torturers and took over the prison. That was four hundred years ago. I’ve been serving justice to Cade’s criminals ever since.

“When Mazaki arrived, I found myself fascinated and focused my attentions on her. She never screamed, never cried. Nothing I did seemed to affect her. What amazing stamina and power! I was drawn like a moth to flame.”

Mazaki’s eyes were burning. “You’re disgusting,” she spat. “She forced herself upon me,” she said more quietly.

“And only then did she react! Oh, her scream was delicious! I was hooked.”

Mazaki turned away from the others in shame.

“I asked her to be with me. I wanted her to be mine. But she said no!” Celestine screeched in disbelief. “So I tortured her more and more…and then one day, she fought back and escaped! Nobody escapes,” she hissed. “And then she disappeared!”

“The body I had inhabited died, so my spirit was free again. Attracted by its healing power, I fused with King Zaladin’s Amulet, as Lei melded with his Band due to its power of the mind.”

“Mazaki…” Anzu said. “That’s a horrible story. I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“It’s irrelevant now,” Mazaki said firmly.

“Good,” Celestine smirked. “Let’s play.”


	5. Chapter 5

#### 25: Mysteries

When Otogi returned to Japan from America, he heaved an immense sigh of relief. While America was thrilling, it felt good to be home again and surrounded by people who spoke his native tongue. On the car ride home, he thought about Yuugi, Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu, excited to see them again. Usually, Otogi thought that most people his age were too immature and beneath him to befriend, but he felt at home with Yuugi’s group of friends. He felt so privileged to have been assimilated into their tightly knit group, and he had been happy to help them in America throughout the DOMA crisis. It would be good to see them again.

Spirits high, he decided to drop by Yuugi’s Game Shop and see if the group had gathered there today. Strangely, though, the shop front was abandoned. Confused, Otogi stared at the closed sign and checked his watch. It was a weekend… Why would the Game Shop be closed? How strange. Strolling to the back entrance, he wondered if they were just taking a day off.

As he rounded the back of the shop, he ran into a tall, dark, hooded man with a hard chest.

“Oof! Sorry!” he apologized, rubbing his head and smoothing his hair down. The man didn’t say anything, so Otogi looked up, slightly anxious. “Hey, aren’t you—“

“Rishid,” the man said, bowing his head and sliding the hood off of his head. “You are Yuugi’s friend.”

“Yeah,” Otogi said, holding his hand out for Rishid to shake, “I’m Otogi Ryuuji. What are you doing here? Didn’t you and Malik and Isis go back to Egypt?”

“We decided to move back here,” Rishid explained. “Egypt didn’t have much left for us.”

Otogi nodded, surprised expression still on his face. “What are you doing here, then? At the Game Shop?”

Rishid sighed, and a look of worry crossed his marked face. “Malik-sama and Isis-sama left for a Duel Monsters tournament a couple of days ago, but I wasn’t able to go with them due to work. I’m anxious because I haven’t heard from them since the morning they left. Isis-sama said she would call me when they arrived, but it’s been days…”

“Another Duel Monsters tournament?” Otogi blinked. No wonder the Game Shop was abandoned; Yuugi must have been attending as well, and of course the rest of his friends would go with him. “What is it?”

“Isis-sama said… A man named Pegasus is hosting it, on his own island. She said she had a bad feeling about it, which is why I’m particularly worried. Isis-sama’s intuition is very rarely wrong.”

“Pegasus?” Otogi exclaimed. “I never heard anything about Pegasus hosting a tournament when I was in America… That’s very strange, because the creator of Duel Monsters hosting a tournament—especially one that invites international duelists—is big news,” he mused, then looked up at Rishid. “I know you’re worried about Malik and Isis, but how does that explain why you’re here?”

“I was hoping that somebody would be able to give me information or some way to contact Yuugi to find out if Malik-sama and Isis-sama are safe.”

“Well, Yuugi doesn’t have a mobile phone, but we could try—“

He was interrupted by a shrill ring, which startled him. Drawing a small phone out of his pocket, Rishid glanced at it before his face lit up.

“Isis-sama!” he exclaimed.

“Rishid! Oh, thank goodness. So my intuition was right, and Pegasus’s tournament is nothing but trouble.”

“Where are you right now? Is Malik-sama safe?”

Isis paused. “Yes,” she said finally. Rishid’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he didn’t say anything. “We are in Egypt,” she added.

He couldn’t restrain himself—“What? I thought the tournament was on an island near America.”

Isis sighed. “The circumstances of the so-called ‘tournament’ have brought us to Egypt. Do you remember the Forbidden Book, Rishid?”

“Yes.”

“Pegasus has gotten his hands on a copy and is utilizing it for a mysterious goal. He has angels working for him and has captured many of the Pharaoh’s friends. We are back ho—in Egypt to retrieve our copy of the book. It is our only chance of stopping Pegasus and rescuing the captives.”

“What can I do to help?” Rishid asked simply.

Isis faltered. “I… I don’t know, Rishid.”

“Then I’m coming to Egypt,” he announced. Otogi blinked in confusion. What were they doing in Egypt if they had been invited to a tournament in America?

“Rishid, why would you come to Egypt?” Isis asked calmly. 

“It is my duty to watch over you and Malik-sama.”

Isis paused for a long time, and Rishid heard someone talking quietly to her in the background. It must have been Malik. The two siblings were clearly agitated at each other, but Rishid could only hear snatches of their conversation. Malik kept saying, “I won’t let you!” and Isis repeated, “Malik, be reasonable,” over and over again.

At last, Isis let out a big sigh into the receiver of the phone. “Rishid?”

“Yes, Isis-sama?”

“Don’t come to Egypt. We’ll contact you if we need more help,” she said hurriedly, sounding weary. Rishid was opening his mouth to argue when the dial tone assailed his ears. Frowning, he put the cell phone back into his pocket, thinking.

“You’re going to Egypt?” Otogi interrupted his thoughts.

“Yes,” Rishid said, “something strange is going on that Isis-sama did not want to tell me about. They may be in trouble. I must get to them.”

“Did she say anything about Yuugi and the others?” Otogi said, chewing his lip in worry. Rishid nodded.

“Pegasus is becoming a dark sorcerer, but they do not know why. Isis-sama said he has angels working for him and that he has captured many of the Pharaoh’s friends.”

“Captured?” Otogi repeated, aghast, unfamiliar with Pegasus as anyone but the head of Industrial Illusions and creator of Duel Monsters – someone he had corresponded with and had been looking forward to working with. “Why on earth would Pegasus capture Yuugi and the others?”

Rishid said, “I do not know.”

“Well, I’m coming with you,” Otogi announced, “to Egypt, I mean. I want to help my friends in whatever way that I can.”

Rishid looked at him, green eyes unreadable. He nodded. “As long as you do not deter me, I do not see a problem with that.”

“I promise to help in every way possible,” Otogi promised. “In fact, I’ll buy our tickets.” Rishid nodded again.

“Let us go, then.”

  


* * *

  


#### 26: Trust & Thievery

“Are we really just going to lie here all day, Pharaoh?”

“Mmhmm,” Yami said, arms behind his head as he gazed up at the sun, admiring the way its rays were so widespread and generous, shining across all the land.

“But this is boring,” Bakura complained, shifting positions for the hundredth time.

“I have to wait for Mikaa, so that she can tell me how to save my partner.”

“What if she doesn’t come back?”

“She’ll come,” Yami said, making it sound as if she had no choice. “She’ll want to beat me.”

“Hmm,” Bakura said in disinterest, closing his eyes.

“Excuse me,” Yami muttered before disappearing into the bushes to do nature’s business.

As if on cue, Mikaa swept into the clearly, landing swiftly on her booted feet.

“Hello,” she said, smiling mischievously. Bakura didn’t even deign to reply, merely raising an eyebrow from his spot on the ground and continuing to look bored. “Hasn’t anyone ever taught you that it’s polite to answer when spoken to?”

Ever defiant, he didn’t even bother looking at her, instead turning his head to gaze at the bushes that Yami had disappeared behind, wondering what was taking him so long.

“He’s a pretty one, hmm?” Mikaa said coyly. Bakura blinked—what? His confusion must have shown through onto his face, because she chuckled. “Powerful men are so attractive, don’t you agree?”

He snorted, veiling the part of his brain that silently agreed. “Sure, if you’re into arrogant, haughty rulers.”

She laughed, the sound as hard as the clang of metal against metal: “Oh, you have no idea…”

“You!” Yami’s voice interrupted their odd conversation. “Let’s resume our duel!” he said firmly, Duel Disk on and dueling deck within its designated slot within seconds.

Mikaa twirled a raven strand of hair around her finger, tapping her foot on the ground impatiently. “I don’t think so, spirit. I’m bored of that game. Let’s play with real magic instead,” she proposed, eyes glowing and pulse rising in anticipation, despite her brother’s allegations that sorcery was her weakness.

“Coward,” Yami growled. “You won’t play me because you know that I’ll win. So how about let’s save time and you just tell me where Pegasus is keeping my partner?”

She hissed, lunging at him and grabbing him by the buckle around his neck and lifting him up off of his feet. “I am not a coward,” she snapped. “I lead hundreds of soldiers into battle daily. I am a _Commander_.”

“And I was a pharaoh,” Yami said steadily, although his breath become shallower.

“Ah, I see what you mean about arrogant, haughty rulers,” Mikaa smirked, glancing at Bakura. Yami looked incensed.

“Let me go and tell me where my partner is,” he demanded, grabbing her wrist to throw her off. But her iron grip held fast. She yanked him into her personal space, glaring at his eyes.

“Same deal as before, fire-hair. Let’s see if you’re as good at magic as you are at a stupid children’s card game,” she said before throwing him down to the ground. He groaned in pain but forced himself up to stand on his feet.

Bakura chuckled as Yami’s game face surfaced—confident, arrogant, and perceptive. “Wrong choice of words, girl,” he snickered, waiting for the explosion.

“One,” Yami growled, “it’s not a stupid children’s card game.” He cupped his hands around the Millennium Puzzle, his Third Eye glowing on his forehead in sync with the golden artifact. “And two—any challenge is a game. And I always win games!” he shouted, a jet of dark energy shooting from the palm of his hand.

Muttering quickly under her breath, Mikaa dodged the stream of magic only to produce her own red pulses of energy, which she shot directly at Yami.

“Shock, defense, debilitation, assault,” she muttered under her breath between chanting spells, remembering the magic lessons she had received as an adolescent. But Yami didn’t have the luxury of a variety of spells, merely focusing on deflecting and hitting Mikaa by melding the darkness he channeled from the Realm of Shadows into different forms.

“Just surrender, Little Pharaoh!” she shrieked as she blocked a stream of black lightning, wings folded behind her back to save energy as she focused on debilitating Yami. Yami rolled on the ground to avoid an especially jagged surge of crimson, eyes narrowed in concentration.

But when he looked up, Mikaa’s hot magic had paused, and he was preparing to deflect a surprise attack when he saw that Mikaa was being restrained—by Bakura?

The former tomb robber had caught her unaware, in the midst of focusing on the spells, and had managed to shove her onto the ground and pin her down. His dagger glinted at her throat. “Tell us where Pegasus has taken the Pharaoh’s useless group of friends,” he said calmly.

She spat in his face and slipped out from underneath him as he recoiled, and then she tackled him in turn, the dagger trading hands as she held it across his throat. “You have made a fatal mistake, snow-hair. Physical combat is my forte,” she murmured, eyes appearing positively delighted by the turn of events.

“Leave him alone,” Yami demanded from several feet away. “This is between you and me, Mikaa.”

“Aww, you mean, you don’t care about him even though he tried to help you?” she mocked. Guilt and doubt filled Yami’s eyes, and Mikaa smiled at the tiny victory. “Do you care about him at all, fire-hair? ‘Cause it would be so, so easy to just slit his throat right here and now… Unless you came with me quietly, of course.”

“No!” Yami shouted, panic flooding his system; he willed it down—he wasn’t here to be scared! He was here to save his friends, and he was damned if he was going to let Pegasus’s servants deter him from his task.

“No what?” she purred, a predatory grin spreading across her face. Bakura struggled against her, bucking, but her weight was relentless. Her clothes hid her muscled form, and Bakura’s body was still part-Ryou. He cursed himself for not building up Ryou’s physique. “I’m getting impatient, Earthling. If you don’t make up your mind, I’ll just kill him.”

“You wouldn’t,” Yami said to stall for time and see if he could save Bakura without turning himself in.

Mikaa’s eyes flashed malevolently. “I won’t if you come with me. I’ve killed thousands in battle, Pharaoh. I won’t hesitate to kill one more.”

“Get the hell off of me, you foolish woman,” Bakura growled, having had it with the two talking as if he wasn’t there.

“Shush, snow-hair,” she said, glaring and lowering the knife to press closer against Bakura’s throat.

“No! Leave him alone!” Yami shouted, not knowing what to do. “I’ll come with you.”

“You idiot!” Bakura hissed. “I can always come back. Go save your precious little partner.”

“No. I gave my word that I would help you,” Yami said steadfastly, reclaiming himself. “I can’t help you if you’re dead, can I?”

“Don’t be a fool, Pharaoh,” Bakura replied, meeting his eyes levelly.

“I’m not,” Yami said confidently, and something about his stance told him that there was more to the situation than Yami was revealing. Could the Pharaoh possibly _want_ to be captured? How stupid could he be?

“Make up your mind,” Mikaa snapped impatiently.

“I’m coming with you.”

Bakura remained silent, hoping that Yami knew what he was doing.

“Good, Earthling. Good choice.” Mikaa muttered a spell and shot twines of red magic at Yami, who shouted in surprise as his body was lifted into the air and bound. Leaping off of Bakura, Mikaa laughed in triumph.

“Much too easy,” she gloated, unfolding her wings. “It was fun playing with you, snow-hair. Until we meet again.” She saluted him mockingly and leapt up off the ground, tugging Yami after her.

“I trust you!” Yami shouted as he was yanked ungracefully into the air.

“Shut up, Pharaoh!” Mikaa yelled, binding his mouth with the magic ropes.

From the ground, Bakura watched helplessly as Yami let himself be captured.

“What the hell is on your mind, Pharaoh…” he muttered in confusion. “’I trust you’? To do what?” He sighed, feeling considerably lonelier now that Yami was gone. Although the Pharaoh was more than irritating at times, his presence had been a welcome change after over 3,000 years of being alone in everything he did. It had been nice being around someone who didn’t fear him, and last night… Last night had been almost enjoyable, even though Bakura would never admit it aloud.

He sighed, gazing at the now charred campsite. His clothes had been disturbed during the battle, but they looked dry. Removing the Pharaoh’s cape from his shoulders, he put his clothes back on.

“The idiot forgot his stupid jacket…” he mumbled, turning the fabric over in his hands. “Now that he’s run off to save his stupid friends, does he actually expect me to return it to him?”

Bakura glanced up at the sky and then at Pegasus’s castle, toward which Mikaa had taken Yami. The wind blew through the forest, and the blue cloth fluttered in his hands.

“Fine,” he grumbled, “it’s not as if I have anything better to do.”

*

Quelling the obnoxious click of his shoes on the stone floor, Pegasus crept into the room in which Celestine had placed the bodies that housed the souls she had trapped within her Gameboard. On the ground, laying side-by-side, were Yuugi and his friends. A smirk rose upon Pegasus’s face—this was much too easy.

He stepped around the bodies to reach the backpack next to Yuugi, which clanged as he lifted it upright. Aha. Unzipping the bag, he found the Millennium Rod and Millennium Tauk nestled between a jacket and a pair of pajamas. He chuckled and took them gleefully. Eyeing Yuugi and the Millennium Puzzle that lay on his chest, Pegasus tugged at the hands that kept the Puzzle within its grasp, but they refused to budge.

I’ll just win it from him and that spirit, Pegasus thought, turning to Ryou, who he recognized with slight apprehension. After finding nothing of note in his bag, he searched the body and found his good ol’ Millennium Eye—which he pocketed—and the Millennium Ring. His intention to slip the cord from Ryou’s neck failed as the gold pointers embedded themselves into the boy’s skin. Pegasus dropped the Ring with a clatter, shuddering.

Lastly, he turned to Anzu and Mazaki, whose identical pendants hung around their necks. He slipped these from around their necks without much trouble, smiling triumphantly as they fused back into one.

Satisfied, he stepped back out to the hallway, prizes in hand.

  


* * *

  


#### Chapter 27: Shizuka to the Rescue

Black. Black clouded her vision, and immobility assailed her body. She tried opening her eyes, but her eyelids felt so heavy. She tried feeling around, but her arms felt like they were made of steel. She tried moving her legs but they refused to budge.

The last thing she remembered was the battle with those scary winged things, and how the spirit of the Band had fallen… And then she remembered running as fast as she could—and then nothing.

Where was she? She tried opening her eyes again, finding the attempt successful this time. The darkness didn’t subside by much, but she could vaguely make out some walls, a stone ground, and…bars? She wrestled her limbs into submission and made her way toward the mysterious bars, shivering. Wherever this was, it was really cold.

Suddenly, a small amount of light streamed into the room—cell?—from a point to her right. A silhouette tiptoed into the room, emerging from the sliver of light.

“Renn-san?” the voice whispered; it sounded vaguely familiar, but Renn couldn’t place it. “Renn-san? Are you awake?” it repeated.

“Y-yes. Who is it?”

“It’s Shizuka,” the voice answered, and after a long moment of fumbling with what sounded like keys, she opened the cell door and hurried over to Renn. “Can you stand up?”

Renn winced as Shizuka helped her up. “Kind of,” she murmured. “Shizuka-chan, what are you doing here?”

“Shh,” she hushed, letting Renn lean on her for support. “I’ll explain everything later. First, let’s get out of here.”

Still completely confused, Renn had no choice but to obey the other girl’s command and follow her out of the cell. They crept up the stairway, and Shizuka peered out the door.

“Okay,” she whispered, “we’re going to have to make a run for it. But wait, here, I found this in Pegasus’s office. It’s yours, right?”

Renn blinked at the gold Band in the palm of Shizuka’s small hand and nodded, taking it gratefully. She slipped it back on around her wrist, marveling as it shrunk to fit her arm snugly, as if ensuring that it couldn’t be removed again, and thrilling in the warm magic that coursed through her veins.

“Thank you,” she whispered, holding the Band close to her chest. Shizuka nodded and whispered the directions back to her room, in case they were separated. She stuck her head out the door, looking both ways before dashing out, her light, slippered feet barely making any noise against the wooden floors. Shutting the steel door behind her and following Shizuka, Renn had more trouble remaining silent as she tiptoed quickly, avoiding letting the small heels of her shoes touch the floor.

Shortly, they reached Shizuka’s room, luckily avoiding running into any of the castle’s employees or Pegasus’s suits.

Panting, Shizuka said, “I have to go return the keys to Pegasus’s office before he gets back from the meeting. Please be quiet and hide if you hear people outside. I don’t know how good their security is.” Renn nodded and sat down on the pink bed, looking scared as she watched Shizuka bound out of the room.

What in the world was happening?

Suddenly, she heard a loud commotion outside the door—several male voices shouting, and then a harsh female one screeching over them:

“Calm the hell down! Somebody tell me what happened!”

“The prisoner escaped!”

“The girl?”

“Yes! We don’t know how she did it! Oh no, Master Pegasus is going to be so angry!”

“Has anyone informed him of the matter yet?”

“No, we don’t know where he is; he wasn’t in his office, bedroom, or studio. It isn’t quite midnight yet, so…”

“You imbeciles,” the female reprimanded angrily, “go find out where Pegasus is! And then scour the grounds for the prisoner… She can’t have gone far. What are you waiting for? Go! And hey, you! When you find Pegasus, inform him that I have accomplished my task. Meanwhile, I’m going to have some fun with my captive.”

Renn shivered. Another captive? Who could it be? She hoped that Shizuka wouldn’t get caught.

After what felt like forever, the door opened. Panicking, Renn slid under the bed, hiding behind the lacy drapes.

“Renn-san?” Shizuka said softly. With a sigh of relief, Renn crawled out from under the bed.

“What’s going on?” she asked timidly. Shizuka flopped onto the bed with a drawn out sigh, dramatically wiping sweat off her brow.

“I was captured by this big winged thing, which brought me here. When I woke up, I pretended to be asleep and overheard a conversation Pegasus-san was having with whoever captured you. They talked about a successful attack and a board game and capturing the other Yuugi; I don’t know anything about those things. But then Pegasus showed me this room, which was very strange because I heard him order your captor to take you to the dungeons. He’s been acting as if I’m some special guest; I don’t understand it. 

“But I knew that I had to get out of here and help _Onii-chan_. So I spied and eavesdropped and found out where the dungeon keys are kept and rescued you when Pegasus left his office and disappeared for a long time. Oh, and I saw the Band on his desk, too, so I took that. That’s how I knew that it was you in the dungeons; at first I wasn’t sure if it was Anzu-san or you.”

Renn blinked at the information overdose. “This is so crazy…” she murmured. Shizuka’s face was grim.

“I know. This is what happens whenever you hang out with _Onii-chan_ and Yuugi…” She sighed helplessly. “Wait! Do you know what happened to _Onii-chan_?”

Renn frowned, trying to remember. “Jounouchi-san, right?” Shizuka nodded, eager for any news on her brother. “He ran off after you,” Renn recalled. “Kaiba-san ran after you, too. We were trying to look for him when we got attacked.”

“Oh no, I hope he’s okay,” Shizuka murmured. “What happened during the attack?”

“They knocked out the Other Bakura and Other Yuugi. Lei-sama and Mazaki-san tried to protect us, but they couldn’t do it. The rest of us ran away, but I was captured. I don’t know what happened to everyone else… I hope they’re okay.”

Shizuka nodded. “Me, too.”

“So what happens now?”

“Right,” Shizuka said, sitting up with her legs crossed. “I’ve been exploring the castle, and the only thing I can think of is sneaking out of the garden.”

“Can we get there without being seen?”

“Well, I was thinking…”

Renn nodded along as Shizuka explained her escape plan, but her thoughts were on Lei.

//Lei-sama… Lei-sama… Lei-sama… Where are you? Please help us…//

*

“Master Pegasus! Master Pegasus!”

Pegasus raised an eyebrow as he was assaulted by his own men as he emerged from Celestine’s “game room”.

“What is it, gentlemen? Can’t you see that I’m a little busy at the moment?” He held up the Tauk, the Rod, and the Amulet.

“Master Pegasus, the prisoner has escaped!” one of the suited men announced, looking panicked.

“What?” Pegasus snapped to his full height. “What did you say?”

“The girl in the dungeons, sir! She’s escaped! We don’t know how, and we’re searching the grounds, but there’s been no sign of her.”

“Well, search harder,” Pegasus demanded, frowning. “I need that girl for my project. Do not stop searching until you find her.”

“Yes, sir!” the men chorused, bowing and running off to scour the grounds.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Pegasus chuckled to himself, heading back upstairs to his office. “Escape? No, no, my dear. Nobody escapes from Duelist’s Point. It’s just a matter of time…”

Delighting in the metal click that the Amulet made against the Rod as it swung back and forth, Pegasus hummed happily to himself and ignored the chaos going on around him.

  


* * *

  


#### 28: Distractions

Pann was going through his Duel Monsters deck, admiring the cards he had put together. Pegasus’s invention was really quite an interesting little game, if a bit childish.

Suddenly, a flash of light caught his eye. He squinted down towards it and raised an eyebrow in amusement: a girl and a boy were attempting to scale the side of the hill that led up to the castle. Thought they could sneak past him, did they?

“Halt, intruders!” he shouted, soaring down from his tower to confront them. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“What does it look like we’re doing, you moron?” Lei said in disdain, continuing to climb up the rope, Jounouchi right behind her. 

Pann’s eye twitched. “It looks like you’re trying to sneak into the castle, which is not allowed under any circumstances.”

Lei snorted and continued to climb upwards. Jounouchi laughed as Pann spluttered, unaccustomed to being ignored.

“Go away, bat boy, we don’t need you here,” he said, waiting as Lei stopped to catch her breath. Angered, Pann flew up the rope, blocking their way up the rocks.

“Turn back now, or there will be consequences.”

“Oh yeah?” Jounouchi sneered. “Bring it on.”

Pann snarled, “Can you play Duel Monsters, boy?”

Jounouchi gifted him a thumbs up and a cocky grin. “You bet’cha I can! I was second at Duelist Kingdom, one of the Top 4 of Battle City, and one of the Top 4 of the KC Grand Prix.”

  
“Hrmph,” Pann scoffed. “We’ll see if those titles mean anything.” Without warning, he grabbed the rope off of the sharp rock that they had hooked it to and flew into the air, dragging Lei and Jounouchi with him as they shouted in terror. Chuckling, he reached the castle roof, dropping them as he landed.

After activating their Duel Disks, Pann and Jounouchi shuffled each other’s decks as Lei stepped out of the way.

“Duel!”

“I’ll go first!” Pann shouted, glancing at his hand. He smirked. “I’ll play Psychic Commander in Attack Mode and cover a card. Turn end!”

Lei frowned, removing her concentration from the duel and instead focusing on their location and the people nearby. Harnessing the power of the Band, she shut her eyes and tried to sense how many people were nearby. Scanning their thoughts for information about Renn, the Winged Knights, and the workings of the castle, she learned that there was commotion going on in the castle—a prisoner had escaped! Her heart swelled at the thought: could it be Renn? Earlier, she had felt a surge from the other end of their link, and she almost felt like she could hear Renn speaking her name, but the signal had been too weak to be interpreted. It seemed as though the separation of their bodies had thrown their mental link out of kilter.

She hoped that Mokuba was okay. They had split up, Mokuba alleging that they would be more effective that way than if they remained as a large, conspicuous rescue group. They had decided that since Mokuba was small, had the Signet Ring to protect him if necessary, and was a decent duelist, he would go alone. Lei would accompany Jounouchi because she could shield him and fight with magic, but he could duel if necessary. Neither of them was particularly stealthy, so they served as the distraction that would allow Mokuba to sneak into the castle undetected.

As the castle was plagued with disorder due to the prisoner escape and the guard on watch had been distracted by a game of Duel Monsters, now would be the perfect moment for Mokuba to sneak into the castle, nobody suspecting a thing.

Both focused on the task at hand, Lei and Jounouchi hadn’t shared many words, as their minds were too busy worrying about the plan and about saving Renn and Shizuka to notice the slightly awkward silence between them. Jounouchi didn’t seem so bad, though, Lei mused. A bit rash and impatient, but definitely not as brainless as he appeared at first.

“Let’s set some terms for this match, bat boy!” Jounouchi shouted as he played Alligator’s Sword in Attack Mode. “If I win, you lead me to my sister! And Renn!” he added, glancing at Lei, whose mind seemed to be elsewhere. The Band was glowing faintly.

“Agreed. And if _I_ win, then you hand over the Band.”

Lei snapped to attention at the mention of her piece of the Regalia. “Ah, High Advisor Pann, it’s so lovely to see that you’re so faithful to your good lord.”

Pann’s face twisted into one of dislike. “The King is a naïve fool,” he spat. “But who are you and how do you know of me?”

“I am the spirit of the Band and have dwelled within King Zaladin’s mind ever since he inherited the Regalia. Of course I know you and how much of a simpering idiot you are.”

Pann looked ready to murder. “You will not speak like that to me again, _spirit_.”

Lei laughed. “Win this duel, and then let’s talk.”

“Right!” Jounouchi shouted. “Let’s go! Shizuka is waiting for me! Attack, Alligator’s Sword!”

Pann winced as his monster was destroyed (Jounouchi: 4000 / Pann: 3900). “My turn!” he shouted, drawing a card and placing it face down on the field.

As the duel continued, Lei returned to probing the castle through the minds of Pegasus’s employees. If only she could find out where Renn and Shizuka were…

*

While Lei and Jounouchi served as a distraction, Mokuba snuck into the castle undetected. Sneaking along the shadows, he kept his eyes and ears out for Pegasus’s employees.

Out of seemingly nowhere, a reddish figure dashed past him, and he blinked—could that be…?

“Shizuka!” he whispered loudly. The figure—a girl with long auburn hair—stopped and looked back down the hallway, hands clasped to her chest.

“M-Mokuba-kun? What—?”

“Over here,” he hissed, sticking a foot out of the shadows. Looking around timidly, she tiptoed over to him, a look of disbelief on her face.

“Where have you been? Why are you hiding?” she asked in an urgent whisper. “I haven’t seen you around at all! Where is he keeping you?”

Mokuba stared at her stupidly. “Keeping me? Who’s ‘he’?”

“Pegasus-san!”

Glancing around nervously, he hushed her, holding his finger to his lips.

Frowning, she whispered, “Why are you being so secretive? Didn’t Pegasus give you free reign of the castle, too?”

“What are you talking about?” Mokuba frowned. “Shizuka, I’m not… I escaped. I wasn’t brought back to the castle by that flying thing.”

Shizuka looked startled. “But how did you escape?”

Mokuba smiled wryly. “I jumped…and twisted my ankle. I’ll explain later… Should we be talking here?”

“Oh! No, no, of course, you can come to my room… Here, follow me quietly.”

They snuck back to the third floor, where several employees were pacing frantically, muttering into the microphones clipped to their ears. Shizuka distracted the one closest to her room by asking him what was going on, giving Mokuba a chance to tiptoe quickly into her room.

He stared, aghast, at the frilly room. “What the—“ he muttered. He heard a small ‘eep’ coming from the vicinity of the massive bed. “Hello?” he said.

Silence.

Shizuka entered the room, closing it quickly behind her and slouching against it with an exhausted sigh. 

“Shizuka, I think you should be careful. I heard something weird in this room a few minutes ago,” Mokuba brought up.

“Oh!” Shizuka gasped, smacking her forehead. “Renn-san? You can come out now. It’s just Mokuba-kun.”

Mokuba blinked as Lei—no, this girl had blue eyes; she must be Lei’s other self—emerged from beneath the pink bed.

“Hi, Mokuba-kun,” the girl—Renn?—greeted, looking sheepish. “Sorry, I thought you were one of Pegasus’s people.”

“No worries. Lei will be glad to know that you’re safe.”

“You’ve been in contact with Lei-sama?” Renn cried joyfully. “Where is she? Is she doing okay?”

Nodding, Mokuba said, “I found her in the forest and we decided to work together to reach the castle and rescue you two.”

“But…” Renn seemed confused. “Why isn’t she with you? Oh no…”

Mokuba shook his head. “Lei and Jounouchi decided to serve as a distraction while I broke in. I’m sure they’re doing fine; they managed to snatch the attention of the flying thing that was on watch.”

“Lei-sama is nearby?” Renn asked. Mokuba nodded.

“She should be on the roof of the castle.”

//Lei-sama? Lei-sama?//

/…my Renn?/

//You’re back! I missed you.//

/Where are you? Are you the prisoner who escaped? Everyone in the castle is thinking about it./

//Yes, yes! Shizuka-chan rescued me, and now I’m hiding out in her room. Mokuba-kun just joined us, too!//

/Good, I’m glad to hear that you escaped. Now tell me exactly what room you’re in, and I”ll do what I can when this Duel is over./

  


* * *

  


#### 29: Daily Brief

“Despite our pure soul’s _attempt_ at escape, things are proceeding quite nicely,” Pegasus observed happily, chin resting on his clasped hands as his eyes glittered. “How did we do today, Knights?”

Mikaa smiled, still dragging Yami around with magical twine; he floated horizontally, unconscious, behind her.

“Fantastic,” she bragged, smirking at her prize.

Celestine looked sullen for once. “Satisfactory,” she muttered, shooting an annoyed glare at Mikaa.

“Oh?” Pegasus turned to her, interested. “Merely satisfactory?”

“One of my game pieces is advancing quickly through the Gameboard,” she admitted. “I want to crush him!”

“Ah,” Pegasus said, “that would be Yuugi. No worries, Celestine. I will need him soon, and now that dear Mikaa has captured his other half, he will fall right into our hands. Just make sure the others don’t escape just yet.”

Celestine nodded, still sulking.

“Akai, I trust you enjoyed your day off?”

He bowed. “Yes, sir. I am ready for my next assignment.” 

“Good,” Pegasus beamed. “Shadowcat has departed our lovely island to complete his task, I know, but where on Earth is Pann?”

As if prompted, Pann burst through the door. “Intruders!” he panted. “Intruders are trying to break into the castle! I tried to stop them by dueling them, but the boy defeated me, and now they want access to the prisoners… They’re on the roof right now…”

“Ah, here comes the rescue squad. Don’t worry, Pann. We’ll deal with them after the meeting. Now, I hear that you are the best sorcerer after Shadowcat and Celestine?”

Pann smirked, shooting triumphant glances at Mikaa and Akai. “Indeed,” he said smugly. Mikaa rolled her eyes.

“I have compiled rituals for you to study. You are to help me in extracting the ingredients I need for my project from our lovely prisoners.”

Bowing, Pann said, “At your service, Master Pegasus.”

“Good,” Pegasus smiled. “Now Mikaa, my dear, I noticed this morning that three of our visitors managed to escape our wonderful island. This is unacceptable. You are to chase them down and bring them back to Duelist’s Point. Please give your captive to Akai.”

Mikaa echoed Pann’s bow, smirking in delight. “Hunting prey… My favorite. I will not let you down, Master.”

“Akai, after you take our dear friend to the dungeons, you will patrol the perimeters of the grounds and ensure that no more intruders attempt entry. I will not have pestering fools interfere with my plans.”

Nodding, Akai said, “Yes, Master Pegasus.”

“Now,” Pegasus smiled, walking to the door, “let’s see about those intruders…”

  


* * *

  


#### 30: Escape!

“ _Nee-san_ , you’re grabbing my hand too hard.”

Isis opened her eyes to an amused Malik, who was patting her hand. Feeling sheepish, she quickly loosened her death grip.

“I’m sorry. I fear that living underground for so long has burdened me with a fear of heights.”

He squeezed her hand comfortingly. Gazing off to the distance, he commented, “It’ll be weird going back.”

“Yes,” Isis agreed, “but perhaps it is destiny that keeps bringing us back to our home.”

“Home…” Malik mumbled.

/Pretty-Light, how are you liking the view from up here?/

Malik had almost forgotten about his other self, seated on the opposite shoulder of Legendary Devil. //It’s very nice, Shadow.//

/Mmm, Egypt is my home./

//What? What do you mean?//

/Silly Naïve-Light. I was born in Egypt, just like you./

Malik quickly cut off their connection, memories suddenly surging—his father’s dead body, the smell of death, the hot knife burning through his back…

“Malik? Are you all right?”

Opening his eyes, Malik looked back at his sister miserably.

“I’m fine,” he said softly, “just not as excited as you to return to our homeland.”

It was Isis’s turn to squeeze his hand in an attempt at comfort. “We’ll just get the Spellbook and leave,” she promised. Malik sighed.

“I hope it’ll be that simple.”

*

“But we can’t just stand here and wait!” Jounouchi cried.

“Then sit down, Jounouchi,” Lei said, arms crossed and eyes staring a hole into the wall in the direction that Pann had disappeared off to. 

“This isn’t funny, Lei! Shizuka needs my help!”

“Look, if we wait, that idiot High Advisor will lead us into the castle. And your sister is fine. I have been conversing with my Renn, and she says that Shizuka has been living in a lap of luxury for the past few days. Pegasus gave her entire suite and almost full reign of the castle.”

“You’ve been talking to Renn? And she’s with Renn? Can you tell her to tell Shizuka not to worry and that her big brother is coming for her?”

Lei rolled her eyes, sending the thought to her other. “Of course, Jounouchi.”

Although Jounouchi seemed to calm down fractionally, he began pacing the roof. “What if he doesn’t keep his word? What if he doesn’t even come back? What if he leads us to the wrong place? What if we’re too late! I can’t just stand here and wait!”

Sighing, Lei growled, “Calm the hell down. If Pann doesn’t come back in another five minutes, then Shizuka is going to attempt her escape plan and we’re going to meet her in the garden, okay?”

“Not so fast,” a voice interrupted.

Lei and Jounouchi both growled as Pegasus appeared over the edge of the wall, carried by Pann and Mikaa. Simultaneously, several men in suits appeared out of a hidden trapdoor in the roof. 

/Change of plans: escape now, my Renn! Pegasus is up here with the High Advisor and the Commander and several men. We’ll keep him distracted. Have Mokuba teach you how to use the Band’s shield and then _leave_. Don’t go to the garden. Pegasus may have overheard that bit,/ she sent quickly to Renn. Please be okay, Lei thought to herself, finding that she was entrenched in worry for the other.

“What do you want, Pegasus?” Jounouchi demanded. “Lead me to my sister now!”

“What would the fun in that be?” Pegasus laughed. “And why should I humor intruders? You’re so naïve, Jounouchi-boy.”

“Your dirty game is over, Pegasus!” Jounouchi growled. “Release your prisoners and get us off of this creepy island.”

“But Jounouchi-boy… The game has only begun.”

*

“You have to focus the magic and hold onto it and will it out of your body,” Mokuba explained, trying to teach Renn how to form a shield using the Band’s magic as per Lei’s instructions. “Just concentrate on protecting yourself and it’ll come to life around you.”

Renn squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated, feeling hot magic course through her veins.

“Yes!” Mokuba exclaimed. “Wow, that was pretty good!”

Renn smiled a little. “Thanks,” she said shyly.

“All right,” Shizuka interrupted, “we should probably leave now, while _Onii-chan_ keeps Pegasus busy. It’s going to be harder now, if we can’t go through the garden. But I know another escape route that might work, if the door is open… But if it’s not, I don’t know…”

“We have to try it,” Mokuba said firmly. “We have to get out of here.” He didn’t say it, but he was thinking about his brother, whose disappearance was worrying him greatly.

“Mokuba’s right,” Renn pitched in. “I’m tired of being a captive. Let’s go.”

They snuck out into the hallway, which was abandoned. “Hurry!” Shizuka hissed, counting doors and dashing to the room she had discovered during her exploration of the castle. Turning the doorknob frantically, she whispered, “Oh no! It’s locked!”

Mokuba whipped out his wallet, in which he had many, many credit cards stored. Peering at the tops of them, he quickly chose one and slid it into the vertical crack between the door and the doorknob. Tilting and bending the card while pushing on the door, Mokuba had broken into the room within seconds.

“Where did you learn to do _that_?” Shizuka blinked, wide-eyed. Mokuba laughed, ushering the two girls inside the room and shutting it cautiously behind him.

“ _Nii-sama_ likes to lock the game rooms when he thinks that I should be doing homework instead of playing video games. Picking locks became a necessity for surviving,” he explained wryly as they rushed to the French doors, which lacked a lock just as Shizuka remembered. They flung the doors open, promptly assaulted by the cool night breeze. 

“How are we going to get down?” Renn asked, gazing down the side of the balcony.

“Well… I hadn’t thought out that part,” Shizuka said sheepishly. “This was only the backup plan…”

Standing on his tiptoes, Mokuba strained to see under the balcony. “A helicopter would really come in handy right now…” he muttered wistfully.

*

“Then duel me, Pegasus! If your little servant won’t keep his word, then I’ll just have to count on you to lead me to my sister!”

Pann snarled at the nickname but Pegasus held him back, smiling. “Dueling at this hour? No, no, no. I want to play with magic, my boy. But we can incorporate the Duel Monsters cards if you’d like…”

“What are you talking about?” Jounouchi shouted. “Stop stalling and lead us to your prisoners!”

“Tsk tsk tsk, Jounouchi-boy. So impatient. Here’s what we’ll do. We’re going to shuffle each other’s decks, and then whoever draws the monster with the highest attack power gets to make the first move.”

“You bastard! You know that we can’t attack with magic! I can only shield!” Lei shouted.

Pegasus laughed maliciously. “Then you’d better hope that he draws the right card, hmm?”

[[Jounouchi, you have to draw something high so that I can shield us instantly. Then, we have to make a run for it to that trapdoor that those men are guarding,]] Lei sent to Jounouchi’s mind. He nodded, determination distracting him from the eeriness of another voice speaking in his mind.

“You’re on, Pegasus!”

He drew—The Legendary Fisherman (1850/1600). “1850! Beat that, Pegasus!”

Pegasus held up a Parrot Dragon (2000/1300) triumphantly. “As you wish, Jounouchi-boy. 2000.”

“Run!” Lei screamed, as Mikaa and Pann began shooting jets of magic at them. She shielded, grabbing his arm and pulling him into the proximity of the bubble around her. They shoved past Pegasus’s backups, dashing down the narrow, rickety flight of stairs to the very top story of the castle.

“Where are we running to?” Jounouchi shouted, as they ran down another flight of stairs.

“The others need our help! What’s your biggest flying card?”

“Red Eyes Black Dragon! Why?”

“I’m going to try to summon it, like you said that Agent Shadowcat did! Give it here!”

Jounouchi searched through his deck and tossed his most prized card at her. Lei caught it deftly between her fingers as they ran down several more sets of stairs. “We need to get outside!”

At last, they reached the bottom floor of the castle. Panting hard, they ran towards the foyer. As soon as they reached the high-ceilinged room, Lei shouted, “Are you ready, Jounouchi? I’m going to summon it, and then we’re going to climb on and fly to where the others are.”

“Let’s go!”

They pushed open the heavy double doors, aware of the pattering of the feet of Pegasus’s men in pursuit. As Lei’s Band glowed violently, the Red Eyes Black Dragon roared to life. Jounouchi hopped onto its bent back and helped Lei up quickly, as the men Pegasus had stationed in front backed up in surprise and terror.

“To Shizuka!” Jounouchi shouted, and his monster let out a cry in response.

“Direct it to the balcony on the south side of the castle, Jounouchi!”

“Me?” Jounouchi exclaimed. “You summoned it with your thingymajig!”

“It’s your monster,” Lei said, gripping the body of the majestic dragon. “It answers to you.”

“Really? Neat! Let’s go, Red Eyes! Take us to Shizuka!”

The dragon circled around to the south side of the castle. “There!” Lei pointed to the three figures hanging onto the ivy that wound along the walls. One was in the midst of getting off the balcony.

“Shizuka!” Jounouchi cried.

/My Renn!/ Lei called to her other, who wore a frightened expression on her face as she hovered between the ivy and the balcony. /Jump! We’ll catch you!/

Squeezing her eyes shut, Renn let go of the balcony railing. She whizzed through air for a few milliseconds before landing on something warm. When she opened her eyes, she found herself staring into gold-green eyes.

“Lei-sama!” she exclaimed in delight.

“You’re safe with me now, my Renn,” Lei said, holding her closer.

“C’mon, Shizuka, climb on!” Jounouchi urged, giving her his hand. She took it and climbed onto the dragon, followed quickly by Mokuba.

“ _Onii-chan_! Thank goodness you’re safe,” Shizuka cried, hugging him tightly. Wrapping his arms around her, Jounouchi smiled and nodded. 

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said. 

“But… You’re hurt! What happened to your head?” Jounouchi shuddered and turned his head away as she ran soft fingers across the wound that Shadowcat had given him.

“It’s not a big deal. I’ll explain later. Now let’s get out of here! Red Eyes!”

“Halt!” a pair of voices shouted in unison. A shower of magical sparks descended upon them.

“My Renn, Mokuba… Shield with me!” Lei yelled, her hair flying wildly in every direction as a bubble encompassed the entire group. The sparks bounced off of the shield, but Pann and Mikaa continued to pursue them.

“We can’t hold them off forever,” Lei panted, feeling Renn’s energy being drained. “The Regalia cannot channel magical assault…”

“What about the Red Eyes?” Jounouchi shouted as they dodged Mikaa’s red jet of magic.

“Go for it!” Mokuba yelled, sweat rolling down his brow as he strained to keep the shield up.

“Red Eyes! Attack! Red Lightning!” 

A ball of energy gathered in the Red Eyes’s mouth, and it swung around sharply to shoot it at Mikaa and Pann, who couldn’t fly fast enough to dodge it. Jounouchi took advantage of the momentary distraction to direct the Red Eyes Black Dragon away from the castle and towards the jungle.

As the five teenagers rode the black dragon through the night sky, a tall man stood on the roof of his castle — his eye-patch gone and his left eye glinting in the moonlight.

  


* * *

  


#### 31: An Explanation, A Victory, and A Romance

Akai tossed Yami into a cell in the dungeons, the chain of the Millennium Puzzle jangling loudly in the silence. At the sudden impact with cold, hard ground, Yami stirred, returning to consciousness slowly. Akai eyed him as he groaned, heaving himself up to a sitting position.

“Wha… Where am I?”

Akai shut the door of the cell, drawing a key out of his pocket to lock it. “The dungeons of Master Pegasus’s castle.”

“I’m in the castle? Where’s my partner? Where are you keeping my partner?”

“Your partner?” Akai repeated uncertainly. Through the cameras in the plane, Pegasus had shown them images of the “visitors” before they had arrived, but Akai had never boasted of the best memory. “I can’t possibly tell you that.”

“Why not? He’s the other part of my soul,” Yami explained. “He looks just like me, but more innocent and pure…”

Akai’s eyes flashed at his last word. “’Pure’? Really, now. Interesting…”

Yami’s eyes narrowed. “What is going on in this castle? What is Pegasus up to? If you won’t tell me where you’re keeping my partner, then I want some explanations, at least,” he demanded.

“What kind of explanations?” Akai asked, deciding to humor him out of boredom. He leaned casually against the bars, keeping an eye on Yami in case he tried to escape.

“Who are you really? What are you? Why are you here? What your business with Pegasus?”

“We are the Winged Knights. We hail from a world parallel to this one, Callias. We are our country’s — Cade’s — highest ranked officials. Pann is the King’s High Advisor, Mikaa is the Commander-in-Chief of our army, Celestine is the Administrator of Justice, Shadowcat is our Head Intelligence Agent, and I am Chief Ambassador.

“In the days of our forefathers, magicians and craftsmen worked together to forge the five pieces of the Regalia — the Diadem, the Girdle, the Band, the Signet Ring, and the Amulet. These royal treasures were to be worn by the king, giving him immense powers over enemies. But the items had an unprecedented side effect — although they assisted our country in becoming the greatest in the world, our kings and queens began to go mad if they bore the Regalia and wielded their powers for too long. One mortal being alone cannot harness that much energy.

“Our current king, King Zaladin, took it upon himself to dispose of the Regalia, sending them through a space-time portal. King Zaladin is a very…controversial king. Ineffective and incompetent, the entire royal court has been unimpressed with his pacifist policies. Cade didn’t become the greatest nation in the world through peace treaties.

“Us top officials teamed together to usurp King Zaladin’s throne, claim his Regalia, and set up an oligarchy. However, he took action before we expected, so we had to follow the Regalia through the portal. There, we met Master Pegasus, who proposed that if we helped him, he would help us attain the Regalia. And here we are,” he finished.

“Helped him?” Yami asked immediately after Akai paused. “Helped him with what?”

“Perhaps I’ve already told you too much,” Akai said, turning away.

“Wait! I need to know! What is Pegasus up to?”

“Let’s just say that he is undertaking a very difficult task,” Akai said, walking up the stairs, the heels of his boots clicking on the stone floor, “and that you should be worried.” He laughed lightly and exited the dungeons, leaving Yami alone to brood in the dreary darkness.

*

Celestine scowled at her board. Who were these people? Especially the small Blue player… As much as it pained her to admit it, he was a mere five spaces from the last square. How had he advanced so far, so quickly? In the past, there had been players who had played for months and hadn’t gotten as far as him. She quickly concluded that he must be cheating — except for the fact that there was no way for him to cheat in a game in which she controlled essentially every aspect. Sighing, she tossed the die, hoping that he would land on one of the nasty last spaces and be sent all the way back to the beginning of the game.

The tiny cube soared through the air and spun on one of its corners before clattering to a stop. Five round dots stared up at her innocently.

A tense silence reigned.

“No!” Celestine screeched suddenly, staring at her traitorous die, aghast. “How? How? Nobody has ever won!”

“Way to go, Yuugi!” Honda cheered. The others joined in, smiles breaking upon their faces. Yuugi always pulled through, somehow. The kid was simply amazing when it came to games and puzzles.

Slightly apprehensive, Yuugi walked slowly to the last space of the Gameboard, labeled “END” in colorful letters.

Celestine was still mumbling, “This can’t be possible. I am undefeated. So many souls trapped… What’s so different about this one? Why have I lost? Impossible…” followed by a string of obscenities, which sounded particularly bizarre coming from a blonde doll.

Looking up at her, Yuugi smiled. “I just happen to be good at games,” he said offhandedly. “Now release us, like you promised.”

“You will pay for this,” Celestine snarled, eyes glowing dangerously. “Just you wait, little Blue.”

And then Yuugi’s world went blank.

*

Dragging his feet through the dirt, Bakura watched curiously as explosions issued from the general area around Pegasus’s castle. He wondered what was going on, and if the Pharaoh was involved. Knowing Yami, he was probably the cause of it.

He sighed. He missed the Pharaoh’s company and often found his thoughts straying to the arrogant, righteous bastard. Because he had not been treated with benevolence for thousands of years, Yami’s show of sincerity and kindness had made a lasting impression on him. Most of all, he kept remembering Yami’s last words to him—“I trust you”—though he couldn’t parse out what he had meant. He’d ask him when he returned his jacket to him, Bakura thought vaguely.

Tired, he sighed and decided to take a break. The truth was — he thought, resting his head on his arms, which were crossed on his knees — that he suspected that the reason his mind reverted to thinking about Yami constantly was deeper than mere curiosity or interest. He had noticed with a sense of dread and confusion — in addition to surprise — that many of his thoughts about the other spirit were not about the promises he had made to help him but about the way the fire had brought out the red in his eyes and the way he had wrapped the cape tighter around Bakura when he had shivered; the way his warm hand had felt on his face and the way his commanding voice had sounded when he had told him to live for himself.

Groaning, Bakura shook his head in dismay. The last thing he needed in this life was to be attracted to the Pharaoh, who he had sworn to murder. What a way to let down his people… 

_“We don’t know why you’re here, but you have the choice to live, now,”_ Yami’s voice reverberated through his head. 

The choice to live and be who he wanted to be… Was it really up to him? He still had his doubts, even if his intent on revenge wasn’t as twisted and angry as it had been before Yami had Mind Crushed him.

Despite his vainglorious tendencies, he was as virginal as the purest young maiden. A life of plotting revenge and fighting for survival had never made time for any “extracurricular” pursuits. Always on the move, he had never encountered any opportunities for sexual conquest, much less romantic trysts. Although he had come across many brothels, he had always tried to avoid them, looking down on prostitution as the lowest lifestyle possible — and this was coming from a thief.

In other words, he hadn’t the faintest idea what to do about the strange feelings bubbling at the pit of his stomach whenever he thought about the way the Pharaoh had looked at him when they were talking. A part of him ordered himself to squash the pesky sentiments and concentrate on strategizing a way to win the Shadow Game that the Pharaoh had promised, but another part of him pleaded that he embrace his growing affection for Yami and just see where it would take him. Perhaps this could lead to happiness, a tiny voice whispered.

“No,” he mumbled, “I don’t deserve happiness. Not when I’ve already been fortunate enough to escape death while everyone else I knew had been slaughtered. But…”

_“I believe that you are more than just a thief and a stealer of souls. You are strong-willed and powerful, and you have the capacity to live a great life.”_

Bakura had never worried for another person in his 3,000 something years of life, but he found himself filled most peculiarly with hope that Yami was alive and safe.

He shut his eyes tiredly (dealing with a mortal body without being able to turn things over to a host was such a pain!). First, he would find – and rescue, if necessary – the Pharaoh and help him fight Pegasus. Then, he would figure out where these feelings were coming from – and what to do about them.

For now, though, he would just deal with the thoughts of Yami that kept flitting through his mind and shove away the loneliness he felt at his absence.

_“Don’t let me down.”_

“I won’t let you down, Pharaoh,” he said quietly to himself, standing back up and continuing toward the grandiose castle under the mournful watch of the moon.


End file.
